Utrecht mayor Aleid Wolfsen is standing down after his present term of office expires in 2014. Six years in the job has been a ‘fine time’, Wolfsen said in a letter to the city council.

Wolfsen, a Labour party member and MP for six years, ran into several controversies during his time in Utrecht.

In 2008 he was attacked for interfering in a critical publication in a local newspaper and he also came under fire for failing to support a gay couple who were driven from their home by bullying. The council eventually reached a financial settlement with the two men.