Alastair Bates, who was elected in May 2007, will be stepping down from representing the Warwick West ward for the Conservatives.

An election for the seat will be held on the same day as the Warwickshire County Council and European parliamentary elections on June 4.

The 29-year-old said his job had increasingly led to him working long hours away from home, and he did not feel he could continue to work as a councillor.

Mr Bates said: "I can't commit to what I want to do and the promises I made to the electorate. It is in the best interests of everybody for me to resign.

"It is sad and I don't want to go. I have loved serving but I don't believe I can fully represent the people who voted for me at the last election in the ways that I wanted to."

Feeling he had not been able to fully represent his ward for some time, he has donated a portion of his allowance to the Warwick mayor's charities.

In his 18 months in office, Mr Bates puts helping Warwick Cricket Club set up another pitch and build links with other clubs as among his achievements.

He is also proud to have worked with the safer neighbourhoods team, which have paid for security cameras at Shakespeare Avenue shops and provided bicycles for police officers in the town.

But he believes the most challenging aspect of his work has been helping people in the newly-built Chase Meadow estate where he lives, in which he has worked to have speed humps installed and campaigned for bus services to be reinstated.

He said: "There are people from Warwick and Warwickshire moving in and there are people from outside. You have to get them familiar with the place and what the authorities do. If they have come from places that don't have recycling you have to make sure they get the information."

Despite his lack of time, Mr Bates does not wish to leave politics and will be helping Conservative parliamentary candidate Chris White at the next election.