Updated: Hadleigh mayor Gordon McLeod makes statement.

Under fire Hadleigh town council manager Cheryl Tye has resigned with immediate effect.

Ms Tye, who has been on sick leave since the beginning of January, handed in her notice to the Hadleigh staffing sub committee,

Hadleigh mayor Gordon McLeod confirmed Ms Tye has resigned and the matter will be discussed among councillors at meeting on Friday.

He said: "It is always sad when any organisation loses a valued member of its team, and that is the case at this moment in time.

"As the mayor of Hadleigh it saddens me that we have lost such a person, as the town council manager has tendered her resignation from her position within the organisation.

"Over the 16 months that I have worked alongside Cheryl I have had nothing but praise for the way that she has worked behind the scenes to ensure that the strategies the town council wanted enacted were to the best of her and the teams' abilities carried out.

"I know that her colleagues will feel her loss keenly, so it is with that in mind that I wish her well in whatever endeavours she applies herself to in the future."

Following an interim period standing in for the previous town council manager Andy McMillan, Ms Tye was controversially employed on a full time basis ahead of a former serviceman.

The £42,000 a year former town council manager was heavily criticised for her handling of the town centre's Christmas trees project and her part in a subsequent legal letter which was sent to a resident.

Hadleigh council have not followed up on the threats made in the solicitors cease and desist letter to the resident, who refused to apologise and has continued to ask questions of the process and who was responsible.

• Town council apologises to resident over legal letter