By Monica Chard
You will surely have heard the news already: Six of Spelthorne Council’s Councillors quit the Conservative Party following their AGM in June. For the first time in Spelthorne’s history, the Conservatives no longer have majority control of Spelthorne Council. The Conservative Group now have only 17 councillors and the other Groups collectively 22 councillors.
Council Leader Ian Harvey, Deputy Leader Olivia Rybinski, Cabinet members Jo Sexton, Amar Brar and Helen Harvey, along with long serving Cllr Richard Smith-Ainsley have formed instead a group to be known as United Spelthorne Group which claims to put the interests of Spelthorne residents first.
It may sound good that they are putting Spelthorne residents first, but nothing is really that simple. Surely we would all have hoped the council had our best interests at heart. We voted them in after all. And therein lies one large bone of contention. These councillors were voted in with a conservative mandate but now run under an independent banner. So, is that right?
What is behind the defection? We hear it is down to bullying from within the party. Bullying who and over what? “It is with regret that we had to leave the Conservative Group” says Cllr Rybinksi. “Increasingly over the past 6 months we have witnessed and endured torrid levels of bullying, misogyny, hounding and intimidation which has escalated during the lockdown. This has made our continuing membership untenable. Efforts to seek assistance from the Party, at all levels, including CCHQ, to resolve this, have fallen on deaf ears”. But what that was about, we still don’t clearly know. Is it correct that the exposure of the council of the £1billion borrowed to fund the property portfolio is to blame? Seen as innovative and ground breaking to take advantage of very low interest rates to fund property purchasing which will ensure a healthy return, the current Covid 19 crisis is having a major effect on offices and shopping centres which make up the portfolio. So the exposure to that income stream is all the more concerning now.
Leader of the Council for the past 4 1⁄2 years Cllr Ian Harvey said: “When I took over as Leader of the Council in 2016, the Borough was facing a severe financial crisis due to swingeing cuts to government. Our investment strategies have re-invigorated Spelthorne finances … We have delivered a balanced budget with increases below inflation for the last 4 years; the lowest Council Tax increases in Surrey this year. I am proud of what has been achieved under my leadership.” Members of all parties have been shocked at the announcement. If bullying is at the heart of the situation then there should be an internal investigation. It is against members code of conduct. What happens now? The Annual Council Meeting took place on June 18th and the new party was shocked that Labour and Green councillors did not support the independents candidates for the key roles of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
The Extraordinary Council Meeting will have found some answers, but will have happened after we go to print. The interests of the council, no matter which party, should be to work together for the local residents. Maybe the loss of majority of any single party will mean less of a power hold on some decisions and that must surely be a good thing. One councillor told me “We want more scrutiny over affairs. The key to the door is getting rid of the cabinet system and go back to a committee system across all parties”.
Residents will certainly be hoping for clarity in the coming weeks.