9/5/2008

Local News in Fleet

Tories launch bid to take control of Hart

Conservatives were hoping to regain control of Hart District Council as the News went to press yesterday (Thursday).

It follows a triumphant night at last week’s local elections, which saw the Tories win two wards — Fleet Courtmoor and Fleet Pondtail — from the Liberal Democrats to bring their number up to 17 councillors. This is one short of the 18 they need to take overall control.

Conservative group leader Ken Crookes confirmed that he had spoken to the two independent councillors on Hart in a bid to become the new leader of the council.

The Tories held a meeting in the Cross Barn, Odiham, on Saturday morning to discuss the way forward following the May 1 vote.

At the meeting, attended by all 17 Conservatives now on Hart District Council, Cllr Crookes was unanimously re-elected as group leader, with Richard Appleton (Fleet West) remaining his deputy.

Cllr Crookes, who represents Odiham ward, said his colleagues gave him a mandate to try to form a Conservative administration for Hart.

He added that he has spoken to the two independents, Cllr Susan Band (Hartley Wintney) and Denis Gotel (Fleet Central), to ask for their support at the annual council meeting last night.

“We will now have to wait and see if they vote for me as the leader of the council,” said Cllr Crookes on Tuesday.

The Tory leader spoke to Cllr Band on Saturday afternoon and Cllr Gotel on Monday.

He added: “They have indicated to me that they will support me as leader but I don’t take anything for granted. We will have to see what happens on Thursday. After all, they are independents and they must value their independence.”

Cllr Crookes met separately with Liberal Democrat group leader David Neighbour and James Radley, leader of the Community Campaign Hart, on Saturday afternoon to inform them of his intentions.

If voted council leader, Cllr Crookes would appoint his own cabinet.

“I’m still working on who would be on that cabinet but I think we’ll probably have a cabinet of Conservatives and perhaps an independent, bearing in mind that Denis (Gotel) is up for election as chairman of the council and therefore could not be a cabinet member.”

Last year, Cllr Crookes called for a cabinet made up of members of all groups on the council after the Tories lost control of Hart.

He said he would not be doing that this year.  “I think the time was right a year ago to do that,” he said.

“I think we need to take some of the politics out of the council and do the best for the people of Hart.

“At this election we’ve had an unequivocal vote of support, with 60% of all votes cast being for Conservative candidates, which is even higher than last year. It’s a vote of confidence from the electorate, particularly in those wards where Conservatives were elected to replace Liberal Democrats.

“We had lots of feedback on what people thought the major issues were and in Fleet they are bringing back the free red parking bays and community safety.”

Cllr Radley said: “I would like to think that with the Conservatives having made the point so strongly over the last 12 months, Hart will now benefit from a unity cabinet that incorporates the best talents from across the council.

“Now seems to be an ideal time to do that.

“Having made the very difficult decisions that needed to be made to make the council turn the corner and start to improve in terms of value for money, now seems a great opportunity to build on that and improve the services that the people of Hart would like to see.

“I’d like to think that the Conservatives would be supportive of such an approach and I have certainly been doing my best to bring about a unity cabinet.

“However, I fear that Cllr Crookes doesn’t see it in the same light and would like to move forward with a Conservative-led cabinet with the support of one of the independents.”

Cllr Radley added: “However, I believe that party politics will again get involved in local issues.

“I hope I’m wrong but all the indications so far seem to be that I will be left disappointed.”

After the results were announced at the count,  Conservative Stephen Parker told the News: “It’s been a very good night for us.

“One of the things we’ve managed to do is clear the Lib Dems out of Fleet. It wasn’t our aim as such but it’s nice to have achieved it.

“All we’ve got to do now is clear them all out of Yateley.”

Lib Dem leader on the council David Neighbour said: “I’m disappointed.

“We’ve done well in the Yateley wards and in Blackwater and Hawley but I’ve lost two very hard working councillors in Paul Einchcomb (Fleet Courtmoor) and Sue Fisher (Fleet Pondtail).

“The Conservatives are the largest group with 17 but at the moment the council remains hung with no overall control.

“We’ll just have to wait until the dust settles and see what happens on Thursday.”

First printed in: Fleet News and Mail