Mr Fox officially tendered his resignation at Craigavon Borough's Council meeting on Monday, but offered council members no explanation as to why he decided to quit Portadown 2000.

But he later told the Portadown Times that he "wasn't going to belong to an organisation that was prepared to waste ratepayers' money".

Council members were tasked with finding replacements for Mr Fox and Mr Simpson, but both the DUP and SDLP refused to nominate party members.

Councillors were informed that Portadown 2000 must be represented by members from each party, but Alderman Stephen Moutray insisted that DUP would not be nominating, adding that it was a shame that the body had 'lost the expertise of Mr Fox and Mr Simpson'.

Mr Fox's resignation comes amidst the ongoing row over the council's refusal to financially support the NI Olympic Watersports Centre at the Bann Meadows.

The DUP, SDLP and Sinn Fein all withdrew support for the council funding of the project, a move which led to public criticism from Ulster Unionists.

INTERESTS

And last week Mr Simpson quit the promotional group because he claimed some members, mainly Ulster Unionists, are using Portadown 2000 "as a means to pursue selfish party political interests".

Mr Fox has denied that his resignation was any way connected to Mr Simpson's decision to leave Portadown 2000.

The SDLP man also refused to be drawn on whether or not he agreed with Mr Simpson's claim that Portadown 2000 was being used as a 'political forum' for mainly Ulster Unionist members.

One of the accusations made by the UUP was that a party whip was imposed on DUP, SDLP and Sinn Fein members, forcing them to vote against the council taking the Watersports project any further.

WHIP

However, the Times has learnt that no such whip was imposed by the DUP.

The Times has also been told that senior officials at Portadown 2000 had previously requested that an embargo on public comments about the Watersports Centre project be observed by members of the organisation.

However, comments were made public in the press last month, and it is understood that this has caused concern within Portadown 2000.

The UUP has continued to deny that it has used Portadown 2000 as a political forum.