Lewisham elected Mayor Steve Bullock has resigned from his position as trustee of the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation (SCSF).

A Lewisham Council spokeswoman confirmed the mayor's resignation from the charity, which has been at the heart of the Millwall and New Bermondsey CPO controversy.

In a resignation letter to the foundation the Mayor wrote: "As you know, I have always sought to make a clear distinction between my trusteeship of SCSF and my role as Elected Mayor of Lewisham.

"I was happy to take on my trusteeship because I believed and still continue to believe the Energize project can deliver enormous benefits to the people of the Borough but given the amount of recent media reporting, and inaccurate comments I understand to be circulating on Social Media, it has become clear to me that my continued involvement with SCSF is not helping either the Borough or the Foundation.

"It is also creating unnecessary confusion at a time when I need to concentrate my efforts on the many challenges facing the borough today not least the continuing impact of government austerity programmes.

"I have therefore decided that I should tender my resignation as a trustee with immediate effect."

It was revealed last month that SCSF claimed they had recieved a £2million funding pledge from Sports England, which was used in promotional material.

READ MORE

Sports England said no agreement had been made and a spokeswoman said: "In 2010 we received a funding application from the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation but this was withdrawn in 2013.

"We therefore have no funding agreement, of any kind, in place with them.”

Sports England later confirmed that they sent a letter to SCSF in September 2014 to ask them to stop using the information.

However SCSF were using the false funding claim as recently as January this year, according to the Guardian newspaper.