The mayor of Biddulph has hit back at social media commenters who accused councillors of exchanging "brown envelopes" amid delays to the town's Aldi plans.

Cllr John Jones, who represents the Biddulph Moor ward as an Independent, said those making the allegations had "sad little lives" in a letter to the Biddulph Chronicle published today (Thursday).

Cllr Jones, who sits on both Biddulph Town Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, does not use social media, but said the comments he had seen were "made by people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about".

He said: "Of particular concern to me were implications of councillor corruption and 'brown envelopes' changing hands, all made by people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and who have never done anything for anyone other than themselves in their entire sad little lives.

"For the record, I have been an elected member of Biddulph Town Council now for 17 years and I can assure your readers that every councillor I have ever come into contact with, of any political persuasion, does it purely because they want to make our community better.

"We are all volunteers, and no-one gets paid to do it, from anywhere!

"I appreciate that this is a completely alien concept for some people, who cannot comprehend the idea of anyone doing anything for nothing, but this is what we do folks, and I, for one, am proud to be a member of that group."

Biddulph Nub News reported previously how the district council's decision on an application to build an Aldi supermarket in the town has been subject to several delays.

Following the delays, several comments on social media made implications of "brown envelopes" changing hands at councils in relation to the application - although there is no evidence for this.

At a virtual meeting of the town council last month, councillors were also keen to stress that they were not behind any potential delays in the decision-making process and had recommended the application for approval.

The final decision on the application will be made by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council at a later date.

The German supermarket giant submitted an application to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council in June to build a new store on the site of the former Meadows Special School off Tunstall Road.

The school was demolished in a fire in 2004, and was later relocated to Leek.