British National Party Councillor Angela Clarke has quit her seat on Bradford Council

Now a by-election for the seat in the Keighley West ward will be held on March 23.

News of the election came as Cllr Clarke, pictured, pledged to remain a Keighley town councillor despite quitting Bradford Council.

She this week told Keighley Mayor Cllr Tony Wright she would be taking a rest from council duties.

Cllr Wright said the law allowed a councillor to stay away from meetings for six months without any action being taken.

He said: "She is taking time out for a while, to sort herself out, she said. It was for personal reasons."

Ralph Mitchell, secretary of Keighley Worth Valley BNP, this week confirmed Cllr Clarke would remain on the town council.

Of the by-election he said: "The BNP candidate will be taken from West ward -- it would be a West ward person doing the best for his or her own community."

Cllr Clarke resigned from Bradford Council last Friday, just two days after insisting she would be staying on.

She had threatened to resign the previous week after being verbally abused by a fellow BNP member.

After the Keighley News revealed the incident last Friday, Cllr Clarke sent an e-mail to Bradford Council resigning "with immediate effect". Cllr Clarke, of Bankfield Drive, Braithwaite, is believed to have followed up with an official written resignation.

Cllr James Lewthwaite, the BNP's council leader, this week insisted the row was personal rather than party political.

Cllr Clarke, a grandmother in her mid-30s, was not due to face an election until spring 2008.

A by-election in Keighley West Ward has to be held within 35 days because at least two people have requested it. The major political parties are understood to have preferred a vote to be held as part of the normal council elections in May.