A PARISH council says a tweet by Cllr James Malliff has ‘brought Hazlemere into disrepute’ and called for him to give up his seat.

Hazlemere Parish Council has urged Wycombe District Council Leader Cllr Alex Collingwood to take immediate action against Cllr Malliff following his Twitter comments.

Cllr Malliff posted on Twitter earlier this month “we may as well legalise marriage with animals, crude I concede but no apology” in response to Prime Minister David Cameron’s public backing of gay marriages.

The Hazlemere councillor was suspended by the Conservative Party and he offered to resign from his WDC Cabinet post – but Cllr Collingwood refused to act until the results of an internal investigation were published.

Cllr Collingwood said this was due to Cllr Malliff’s “outstanding contribution to cabinet and to council”.

An official complaint has also been logged with WDC over the remarks and the council’s Complaints Initial Assessment Sub-Committee will meet “in the next few weeks” to discuss the matter.

But in a letter sent to the leader yesterday, the parish council said it “dissociates itself from the intemperate and apparently homophobic comments” made by the Cabinet member for the Big Society.

The tweet “has brought his electorate and the people of Hazlemere into disrepute”, the parish council said in the letter.

The letter was read out at the Hazlemere Residents Association meeting last night by Brian Mapletoft, a parish councillor who stood for election in May.

It goes on to demand that Cllr Collingwood asks Cllr Malliff to resign with immediate effect and “resubmit himself to the electorate, in order to defend his position, should he wish to do so.”

A by-election is to be held on November 24 to fill the vacant seat in the Hazlemere South ward after Bob Bate stood down for “health reasons”.

Cllr Malliff, a Christian, later apologised for any offence caused and said the tweet was 'misconstrued'.

He said the comments were intended to be about 'where the line should be drawn' on marriage.

And he wanted to protect the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and thought same sex unions should be treated as civil partnerships.

He was unavailable for comment yesterday when the Bucks Free Press tried to contact him after his profile on the council’s website was changed.

The council's website now describe him as “unaligned”, rather than a member of the Tory party.

What do you think? Leave your comments below and click on the links to view our past stories on the saga.