Mayor Paul Allen has quit as chairman of the Dartmouth in Bloom committee in what appears to be a clash over how the organisation is run.

Mr Allen, who has chaired the floral committee for the last five years, announced his surprise decision on Wednesday.

It comes just as the town was celebrating a major coup which gives Dartmouth a shot at a trophy in the national Britain in Bloom competition.

Mr Allen made his announcement by email which was sent to members of the bloom committee as well as local councillors.

The clash appears to involve Dartmouth in Bloom assistant secretary Melanie Trent, email messaging and allegations of personal agendas.

In his email, Mr Allen said: 'In my role as chairman, it is my responsibility to ensure democracy – not to be ruled by emails and this type of action does not bode well for the future of any committee, but this one in particular ... especially where public money is being handled and there is the potential for disaster.

'There may be in the future many such democratic decisions that need to be taken. Time frames are no excuse for personal agendas.'

Mr Allen said he was resigning as chairman but would be staying on as a bloom group committee member.

When he was contacted, he refused to comment any further.

Mrs Trent also refused to comment on Mr Allen's resignation, saying: 'I would rather not talk about it at the moment.'

Dartmouth in Bloom fundraises to support its annual floral efforts and has the backing of an organisation of Friends of Dartmouth in Bloom.

But the bloom effort is also partly publicly funded and was this year handed a grant of £5,000 by the town council – which has also agreed to hand over another £3,000 in the coming financial year.

For the last 33 years, Dartmouth in Bloom has been taking part in the Britain in Bloom competitions and has won various regional awards every year.

As chairman of the group, Mr Allen has travelled to the various awards ceremony to receive the trophies on the group's behalf.

The town did so well last year that this year it has been invited to represent the South West in the national awards coastal towns section.

Dartmouth in Bloom's marketing and publicity officer Sue Thomson said: 'It is very sad that it has come to this. Up until three months ago everything was going very smoothly. All of this is totally unnecessary. It is a pity we can't all work together harmoniously.'

l Good neighbours wanted: See page 12.