SUE Bates is throwing in the towel as a councillor after 14 years service to Swindon.

Coun Bates (Gorse Hill and Pinehurst, Lab), known as "Bulldog Bates" for her fierce tenacity, is presently living away from the borough and will not stand for re-election next June.

She said: "I have worked extremely hard in what is a very tiring job. Some people go on for 30 years. But that's not for me."

The former council leader broke the news while on holiday in Greece. She was due to come home yesterday.

Coun Bates, who took charge at the council for six years, resigned from the post in the wake of chief executive Paul Doherty's impending departure last August. While that decision was based on internal pressure, she is now stepping down for personal reasons.

She said: "My circumstances have changed. I work in London and visit my father, who is ill, in Essex at the weekend." It is also believed that she recently separated from her husband Mike.

But changes in the Labour party may also have contributed to her decision.

Coun Bates said: "The party has changed immensely since I first joined in 1979.

"It has modernised and some people may find it hard to recognise the party they originally joined."

Her career history has included being ousted by former mayor and fellow ward councillor Maurice Fanning in 1998. She regained control the next year.

Seldom one to hide her emotions, Coun Bates admitted crying after being usurped by Coun Fanning.

But this time she said that she's in control. "My time in office has been educational and extremely hard work. It's an experience I would not have missed."

Council leader Mike Bawden (Old Town & Lawns, Con), who took the helm in May, was shocked. "I understood she would be standing for re-election. As for living away from her constituency, it is not breaking any rules."

He said she had a style of leadership which would be missed.

Councillor Kevin Small (Western, Lab) said: "She has been a very loyal council member and worked tirelessly for the people of Swindon. There was never any question of her commitment to the community."

Fourteen years in the hot seat

1980 Comes to Swindon from East Ham, London.

1990 Elected as borough councillor for Freshbrook.

1994 Elected councillor for Gorse Hill. In the same year she becomes the first woman deputy council leader.

1995 Coun Bates becomes first woman council leader

1996 Introduces regular leader surgeries to make the council more accessible to the public. She also survives a challenge from Kevin Small to retain control of Thamesdown Council.

1997 Oversees the transition of the old Thamesdown Borough Council to a new unitary authority, Swindon Borough Council.

1998 Ousted as council leader when Labour group members elect former mayor Maurice Fanning.

1999 Regains control of council after defeating Kevin Small in a leadership contest

2000 Coun Bates defends the new decision-making process that saw the committee-based system replaced by a cabinet.

2001 Receives a death threat over the closure of parks because of the foot-and-mouth crisis. Conservatives snatch control in October with Mike Bawden voted in as leader.

2002 Labour regains power and Coun Bates takes charge once again in May, but only to resign three months later following the news of chief executive Paul Doherty's impending departure.