A councillor who lost his seat for not fulfilling his duties went on holiday when he should have been at meetings.

Former Wealden District Council councillor Spike Mayhew lost his Uckfield seat after not attending council meetings for over six months.

His dismissal comes as social media posts by Mr Mayhew showed him wearing fancy dress in Butlin's and on a cruise in Norway at the same time as council meetings.

A Facebook post on his personal profile showed that on September 22, 2023, Mr Mayhew and a large group of people dressed in camouflage at a party in Butlin's.

He wrote: "Here we are at Butlins 17 of us 4 still to arrive celebrating wends 60th".

On the same day, he failed to attend a Wealden District Council Licensing Committee meeting and sent no apologies for his absence.

Mr Mayhew, from Uckfield, also missed a full council meeting on June 28, 2023, when Facebook posts suggest he was on a week-long cruise to Norway.

On June 23, 2023, he posted a picture of the Britannia Southampton cruise ship with the caption "Our home for the next week". P&O Cruises ran a seven-night Norwegian Fjords cruise from Southampton starting on June 23, 2023.

He also missed another full council meeting while away in Scotland and York but sent apologies for his absence.

In total, Mr Mayhew attended just 14 per cent of the meetings he was expected to – one out of a possible seven.

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He was elected as an independent councillor in the May local elections and attended just one meeting in that time.

He officially lost his seat on February 26, 2024.

The Argus contacted Mr Mayhew but he refused to comment.

Councillors are legally required to attend at least one meeting every six months or they automatically lose their seat.

A Wealden District Council by-election is due to be contested on April 4 for Mr Mayhew’s vacant Uckfield New Town seat.

A council spokeswoman said: "As set out in the Notice of Vacancy dated February 26, due to non-attendance, a vacancy arose in the district ward of Uckfield New Town.”