TOWN mayors in the area have been vowing to keep prayers at their council meetings, even though in a test case a high court judge has ruled that the practice is unlawful.

The ruling was brought about by Mr Justice Ouseley in a test case last Friday, won by The National Secular Society and an atheist councillor from Bideford who objected to prayers at his council meetings.

Torpoint mayor Eddie Andrews has criticised the ruling as 'ridiculous'.

'As long as I am the mayor we will be continuing with Christian prayer before the commencement of the full Torpoint town council meetings,' he said.

'I have written to MP Sheryll Murray and asked her to represent my views to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.'

At Liskeard, mayor Nick Mallard spoke in a similar vein. 'We will remove prayers from the agenda, but councillors will still be invited to say prayers before the meeting begins until the situation is clarified,' he said.

'I only ever remember one councillor who did not take part in prayers. He would remove himself from the council chamber and come back in for the first item on the agenda. His actions created no difficulties, nor did he feel excluded. It was not a problem.

'Prayers before meetings have served every town council in the county very well for centuries. I consider this to be a mountain out of worm cast. It is appalling that people are allowed to be so petty.'

The Portreeve of Callngton Karen Gold, said: 'We will be continuing with prayers at the town council but they will be removed from the agenda. I feel it is important to keep up a tradition which gives cllrs time for a little reflection. Prayers are vitally important and no one has said they don't want them.'

Looe mayor David Bryan said that personally he would prefer that prayers were kept and he regarded them as important as they served to 'clear the mind.'

'Up to now prayers have always been on the agenda but we will be looking at the legal implications,' he said. 'We shall be praying before the meetings start until this situation is sorted out.'

'To pray or not to pray,' has been added to the agenda for discussion at the Policy and Resources Committee meeting of Saltash town council next Tuesday. Mayor Colin Oakes said: 'Up to now we have always had prayers on the agenda with no problems. It has never been an issue but I am not sure which way it will be going until after the meeting.'

Mr Justice Ouseley's ruling stated: 'The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a council is not lawful under section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, and there is no statutory power permitting the practice to continue.