A Tory councillor has been urged to resign after it emerged he has moved to the Isle of Man.

Richard Falk is currently representing Worthing residents from the middle of the Irish Sea.

Now his critics on the borough council have urged him to do the decent thing and quit.

The town's Conservative agent, Tom Wye, said Coun Falk, who formerly lived in Manor Lea flats, Boundary Road, Worthing, was still in regular touch by telephone and email.

But Coun Falk's Worthing phone line is no longer working and senior Tory colleagues said they did not have his mobile phone number.

Bob Smytherman, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said: "I asked him if he was going to resign and he said he would like to because it was the honourable thing to do.

"I believe the Tories have persuaded him to hang on until the May elections but he was elected as a local resident in Worthing to represent the people of Durrington.

"I don't think he can do this satisfactorily from the Isle of Man so I think he should resign."

Mr Wye, himself a borough councillor, said: "It is true he is currently living on the Isle of Man. He is in regular touch by telephone and email."

He said fellow Durrington councillor Ann Sayers was doing much of the ward work at present.

Keith Mercer, leader of the Conservative-controlled council, said he did not know whether the move was permanent.

He said he believed Coun Falk had stopped claiming his attendance allowance but was expected at the next full council meeting on October 25.

A council spokesman said councillors had only to attend one meeting every six months to remain a member.

If they failed to attend they ceased to become a member but this did not automatically force an immediate by-election.

Coun Falk, 39, caused quite a stir when he began wearing outlandish outfits at full council meetings in Worthing town hall.

The divorced freelance advertising copywriter's fashion statements included a shiny lilac suit, which he wore after he had his leg pulled for previously turning up in a gaudy sweater, dubbed "hideous" by one onlooker.

And at the local election count in 2004 he paraded around the Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, in a silver suit adorned with a map of Paris.

Coun Falk told The Argus earlier this year: "I thought it would be a bit of fun putting these clothes on and plan to make a habit of wearing different outfits to council meetings."