Published: 7 February, 2013

VOTERS will go to the polls in Gospel Oak after former cabinet councillor Sean Birch resigned from the Town Hall last night (Wednesday).

A by-election to find a replacement in his council seat will be held on March 14. The Labour group said he had stepped down for personal reasons.

The ward was once a traditional Labour stronghold but the party lost all three seats in 2006. A key battleground in Labour's return to power art the Town Hall, they returned with a clean sweep in 2010. Cllr Birch was promoted to the cabinet to work as Camden's environment chief but dropped out of the inner cabal of senior councillors which control council policy last May during a chaotic group reshuffle. Senior figures were insisting today that this disappointment is not at the root of his resignation.