Arun's Political Parties Still In Open Conflict

Friday, 20 November 2020 13:03

By Karen Dunn, Local Democracy Reporter

Arun Civic Centre (Photograph: © Mike Faherty / Creative Commons)

The leader of Arun District Council has been called on to ‘share power’ and include Conservative members in his cabinet.

The appeal to Dr James Walsh was made in an open letter from Tory leader Shaun Gunner one day after the former survived a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

The result could not have been closer, with acting chairman Jim Brooks (Ind, Marine) using his casting vote to break a 26-26 tie, with one abstention.

In his letter, Mr Gunner said this was a ‘mathematical victory, but not a moral one’ and called the situation ‘unsustainable’.

He asked Dr Walsh: ‘in the spirit of co-operation and unity’ to hand four of the eight cabinet positions to Conservative members as well as giving them a ‘fair share’ of chairmanships on other committees.

This request was made, even though the cabinet system is being scrapped at Arun from May 2021 in favour of a committee-based system.

Mr Gunner added:

“We have all seen the difficulty in governing this district.

"I think it’s also clear that there is also a desire for true power-sharing unity administration.

“Public comment clearly expects that to happen, and it is the only way for either party to create a sustainable administration moving forward.”

The public has been witness to an often combative atmosphere among councillors since the Tories lost control of the council in May 2019, after 45 years in charge.

Meetings have dragged on for hours, with both sides sniping at each other and calling out even the smallest of perceived slights or breaches of protocol.

It all culminated in the vote of no confidence, which prompted Dr Walsh to accuse the Tories of being hungry for power and ‘playing cynical political games’ at a time when the council had been concentrating on dealing with the fallout from the pandemic.

The vote — which was conducted via a secret ballot — centred around what Mr Gunner called ‘a lack of vision and inclusivity’ from Dr Walsh and his team.

His idea was to replace them with a cross-party ‘unity’ administration, of which he would be leader — though he eventually decided not to table the leadership part of the motion.

Responding to the call to share power, Dr Walsh said:

“The public are fed up with the Conservative opposition trying to wreck the normal business of the council by filibustering.”

“We do not need and cannot afford the upheaval of a change of cabinet members over Christmas, in the middle of a resurgent pandemic, and current lockdown.

“My main concern at the moment is dealing with the pandemic and keeping our community safe.

“The public wants its council to go on providing excellent services, and does not want this petty point scoring by some members who will not accept that the electorate took power away from them last May.”