AN EAST Riding councillor has become the second Tory politician in a matter of weeks to face criticism after getting his driveway resurfaced for free.

Charles Bayram is being forced to explain why he got a 40-metre driveway laid at no cost.

It comes just two weeks after workmen were forced to rip up tarmac laid as a favour outside MP Graham Stuart's Beverley home.

Earlier this week Mr Bayram persuaded contractors repairing the road outside his farm in North Cave to lay the leftover material on his land.

Last night Mr Bayram insisted he had not done anything wrong and attempted to distance himself from the intense criticism levelled at Mr Stuart.

But residents living nearby have told the Mail they believe Mr Bayram should have paid for the work.

Margaret Dykes, of Newport Road, said: "I can't believe they didn't do the footpaths instead of doing a private driveway.

"I've lived in this road 28 years and the paths are terrible. When it rains they flood and you just can't walk down them.

"Doing the footpaths would have helped everybody, not just one person. They should have done Crosslands Lane, it's terrible for potholes."

Kathleen Boast, 77, also of Newport Road, said: "Why should he get the tarmac for free, he's a councillor.

"They keep saying how expensive it is to repair the roads. Couldn't this tarmac have gone somewhere else?

"I think it's a cheek that he got it done for himself."

Another neighbour, Malcolm Mumby, 65, said: "I had to pay for my own driveway, why shouldn't he? I want to know why they are wasting our money on tarmac they don't need. It's a fair length of driveway."

Builder John Mounsor, 62, who lives in Gilberdyke but used to live in North Cave, thinks Mr Bayram should have known better.

Mr Mounsor said: "I can't believe this after all the hoo-ha with Graham Stuart's road. Charlie Bayram shouldn't have even thought about having it done, he's a councillor."

Mr Bayram, who sits on East Riding Council's planning committee, said: "I just thought it would save them the cost of tipping it away. I'd been meaning to get it done.

"I asked them if they would have any left because I know that they order more than they need. I didn't tell them I am a councillor.

"I've got three different kinds of tarmac on my drive now. Every time they got to the end of one load they laid it on my drive.

"The Graham Stuart situation was different, the tarmac on his road was all the same but mine is all different.

"As well as being a councillor I am an ordinary person. Just because I'm a councillor should I have lesser rights than anybody else? I was saving the contractor money."

On July 4 a new road surface in Seven Corners Lane, Beverley was ripped up by contractor GallifordTry.

It had been laid 22 days earlier after Mr Stuart's wife, Anne, asked road crews working in Hengate, Beverley, to fill in potholes in the road leading to the couple's home.

The resulting 50-metre stretch was criticised by some people in Beverley who felt the material should have been used elsewhere.

But it was also disliked by many of the Stuarts' neighbours, who said it was out of keeping in a conservation area. They demanded that it be ripped up and GallifordTry obliged.

The matter was reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner by George McManus, chairman of Beverley and Holderness Labour Party.

Mr Stuart at first said he would not be declaring the surfacing as a benefit because he does not own the road.

But he finally did declare it and the Commissioner said there would be no investigation.

East Riding Council said it had not been consulted about the resurfacing work in Seven Corners Lane, and no planning permission was needed because it was a "maintenance issue".

The authority said the only authorised work in North Cave was on the main road. It was contracted to PBS Construction which, in turn, sub-contracted it to a tarmac firm.