John Woodward has resigned from the position of CEO for the UK Film Council.

Woodward, who has been chief executive since 1999, has announced his decision following the government's recent plan to abolish the UK Film council altogether. With the future of the British film industry's funding currently under negotiation, Woodward stated that he was talking to ministers about alternate ideas but would step down in early November:

"For the next few weeks the UK Film Council is in a dialogue with the government about the future support structures for UK film," Woodward told the Guardian. "By choosing to make my position clear now, I can be objective and unconflicted throughout that process."

The government's planned cuts have received a lot of criticism from both the public, press and many industry figures since Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the Film Council's demise. But despite his views on the decision (he described it before as taken with "no notice and no consultation"), Woodward remained positive about his time with the body:

"I can't adequately say what a privilege it has been to serve the British film industry since 2000 – and I enjoyed every minute of it up until 5.35pm on 24 July this year."

Mike Leigh has described Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's decision to abolish the UK Film Council as "totally out of order". The announcement from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports came yesterday, shocking both the public and the UK film industry.

"It's very shocking indeed," the Vera Drake director told the BBC. "It's from left of field in a very sudden and devastating way." Leigh's not the only one against the decision, which will see the organisation, established by Labour to to develop and promote British films, completely disbanded. 

The coalition government are putting the move forward as a way of cutting costs. The Culture Secretary said that the aim was to form a "direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute" - the DCMS have stated that the funding of British films will continue, but have released no further details on who would be distributing the money (which is why they invented the UKFC in the first place).