Group formed to give Salisbury City Council 'leadership'

A sole leader for the council - which has no majority party - was not appointed at Monday night's full council meeting, despite Labour offering a 50-50 pact to the Lib Dems.

Instead, the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the single Independent candidate have formed a leadership group.

Here is what each of the leaders had to say at Monday night's meeting.

'We want to put party political fighting to one side'

The Lib Dem leader, Salisbury St Pauls councillor Victoria Charleston, said Lib Dem gains at the recent election "clearly shows our community demands better. 

Cllr Charleston added: "The Liberal Democrats saw the greatest gains of any party on Salisbury City Council, ending the Conservative division and disagreement in our city.

"We want to put party political fighting to one side and focus on what's important to people: sorting out the traffic chaos, providing a real voice for Salisbury, regenerating our city and proper action on the climate emergency.

"We are willing to work with councillors of any colour and none who want to get on and do better for Salisbury."

'Can't quite believe it'

Annie Riddle, who represents Harnham West, is the only Independent candidate on the council.

She said she "can't quite believe" that she has ended up in the leadership group, but added that its "a great honour".

Cllr Riddle added: "It's a great honour and I will certainly do my level best to see that we four work together co-operatively to make common sense decisions in the best interests of Salisbury".

"The group has has got off to a good start, meeting weekly with the City Clerk [Annie Child], and that there have been no fallings-out yet".

Annie wishes to prioritise the Neighbourhood Plan, and says the biggest "headache" coming up is the construction of 640 new homes in Harnham, the kind of issue she says required co-operation from all councillors.

'We intended to engage in civilised debate'

Paul Cunningham, Conservative group leader and councillor for Harnham, said the group did not even attempt to put a candidate forward for leader.

He said: "We are very conscious of the clearly expressed desire of the electorate that there is No Overall Control, and the message from the doorstep that people want councillors to work together to make good quality decisions on behalf of ALL of Salisbury’s residents.

"We joint leaders will not agree on everything; but our Conservative group intends to engage in civilised and constructive debate."

Cllr Cunningham added: "Some issues clearly have to be addressed as consensually as possible: these include the future of traffic management in the City as a whole, finalising a Neighbourhood Plan that will attract the support of voters, and the future commercial health of our City."

Lib-Lab pact 'what many voters wanted'

Ian Tomes, Labour leader and Harnham East councillor, said it was with "some sadness" that a Lib Dem - Labour pact could not be formed to lead the council.

He said Labour offered a 50-50-partnership, saying this is what many Liberal, Labour and Green voters would have wanted, but says this was "rejected" by the Lib Dems.

Cllr Tomes added: "In the last four years of Conservative rule, we have seen three conservative leaders, we have seen widespread in-fighting, we have seen good buildings demolished. We have seen our lovely city decline.

"So after a number of years of decline, we believe that a new opportunity has emerged, so you can see why it is with sadness that we have our offer of shared leadership rejected."

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