A WELL-KNOWN Worcestershire councillor has been de-selected after refusing to toe the line with his local Conservative group.

Councillor Paul Tuthill, who was first elected in 1995, has been dumped by Malvern's Tories and will not stand for re-election to the district council in May.

The de-selection is believed to be because Cllr Tuthill has repeatedly expressed concerns about the Conservative leadership.

The councillor, who represents Malvern Link and was also elected to Worcestershire County Council two years ago, had grown increasingly unhappy behind the scenes recently, especially about the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP).

He was also considering taking a stab at the leadership of Malvern Hills District Council after May, and told party colleagues he was prepared to make attempts to replace David Hughes if he kept his seat.

Despite being axed from the district council Tory group, he will remain a Conservative councillor at County Hall, which operates separately.

Cllr Tuthill said: "I'm disappointed that I won't be able to stand again for the district council, particularly as I think the Government is doing a very good job.

"I think they were after 'voting fodder' rather than someone who actually questions decisions, they knew I was unhappy about certain things like being whipped (told how to vote) at planning meetings and with the SWDP."

He also said he "made it clear" he would stand against Councillor David Hughes as an alternative district council leader if he was allowed to stand again.

He told your Worcester News he felt the Conservative group at the county council operated better.

"There's a lot of interesting strategic things going on at the county council like the Southern Link Road work (the A4440 in Worcester) and the railway station improvements which I'm really interested in," he said.

"Adrian Hardman (the county council leader) runs it very well."

Harry Turner, president of West Worcestershire Conservative Association, said there was "no point discussing it" in detail.

"I wouldn't say he was de-selected, we had conversations with him and that was the outcome," he said.

"But there's no point in discussing it further. He has been a good district councillor but he won his county seat in 2013 and he said he'd concentrate on that."