A CONVICTED councillor, who was fined £45,000 for breaking fire regulations at a property he rented out, has resigned from the Conservative Association of Crewe and Nantwich.

Brian Silvester, councillor for Willaston and Rope ward, stepped down on Monday, November 19.

The former mayor of Crewe and Nantwich appeared at Chester Crown Court last month alongside his brother, Colin Silvester, 58, of Pinewood Crescent, Holcombe Brook, Bury.

The pair pleaded guilty to eleven fire safety offences and failing to obtain the necessary license for a house in multiple occupancy, when they appeared at Crewe Magistrates in July.

The charges related to rooms that were rented out as bedsits at Shavington House on Crewe Road.

Evidence attesting to the dangers of the rented rooms was given by a spokesman from Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, as well as former tenants of the rooms.

Clr Silvester, 60, will remain on Cheshire East Council as an independent for the Willaston and Rope ward, as his crime did not receive a sentence serious enough to automatically bar him from the position.

A spokesman for the Conservative Association of Crewe and Nantwich would not comment further than to confirm Mr Silvester’s resignation.

A statement issued on behalf of the Silvester family in the wake of the brothers’ convictions expressed that they ‘sincerely regretted what has happened’.