PENDLE Council’s new Executive - comprised of six Conservative and four Liberal Democrat councillors - meets for the first time tonight.
The format of the group was agreed at last week’s annual council meeting after members threw out a proposal by the Labour group that they should take control of the authority as they had polled the most votes in the elections earlier this month.
The Conservatives and Labour both currently have 18 councillors and the Liberal Democrats 12.
In a statement issued at the annual meeting, the two groups said: “We have a list of shared objectives for the next 12 months but have not signed a coalition agreement.
“While the two leaders have committed to working to find agreed approaches on each issue that arises for the benefit of continuity in the borough, both have retained the right to promote their distinctive policies and seek support elsewhere on the council on those occasions where this is not possible.”
The groups said their priorities in the next year would be:
l To prepare for next year’s budget by conducting a root and branch review of all aspects of council spending while protecting all front line services.
l To make every effort to ensure the council’s local plan is established within 12 months without detracting from the environment.
l To make substantial improvements n the control of dog waste and litter.
l To strive for substantial extra economic development and employment.
l To increase the public’s awareness of the council’s activities and successes.
l To begin the process of establishing a thriving estate at Brierfield Mills.
l To ensure all parts of the borough receive an equitable share of all the resources.
l To reduce the number of empty homes in the borough.
l To improve further the success of the Community Safety partnership.
l To investigate further appropriate devolution of decision making to area committees.
The new Executive members are Conservative Couns Joe Cooney, Tony Beckett, Paul White, James Starkie, Linda Crossley and Chris Tennant and Liberal Democrat Couns John David, Tony Greaves, Nadeem Ahmed and David Whipp.
There are no Pendle Council elections next year and a review of the shared Executive will be carried out in May next year.