Voters could still have a say in choice of mayor (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Voters could still have a say in choice of mayor

11:00am Monday 1st March 2010 in

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VOTERS could have a big influence on who becomes borough mayor despite tonight’s special meeting.

Current mayor Councillor Brian Gurden said he has been taking legal advice on how to handle the vote at the “unique” meeting on the office of mayor.

He added: “I hope my colleagues will treat it as a voyage of discovery rather than something more adversarial.

“I think it would be appropriate that, if members want it, there should be a debate.”

But tonight’s vote to select the council’s preferred nominee for mayor could be overturned because the decision cannot bind the annual council meeting which takes place after the next local authority elections.

One-third of the council’s seats are up for election on May 6 and therefore voters, through their choice of candidates at the ballot box, could influence who finally becomes mayor a week later.

Former Conservative group leader Cllr Phil Heath, who is the current deputy mayor, has been the centre of attention after a majority of the ruling Conservative councillors voted against his succession to the office of mayor from May.

A total of 29 of the 33 Tory councillors voted against him, running counter to the convention that the most senior councillor in line becomes the next mayor.

The failure to support Cllr Heath has prompted allegations of a Tory vendetta and claims that the Conservatives have politicised the traditionally impartial position of mayor – which the borough’s constitution states should traditionally be selected by seniority.

Before he became deputy mayor, the council’s standards committee sent Cllr Heath on a training course after finding he breached the code of conduct by failing to treat others with respect. He was also expelled from the Conser-vative party over an argument with a party worker.

Cllr Heath is currently the subject of four fresh complaints to the standards committee, which are still being investigated. Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Ruffell has cited the complaints as one of the reasons why Cllr Heath should not be mayor.

Of the new complaints, two come from Tories and two from council officers, including chief executive Tony Curtis, who was unhappy at the deputy mayor criticising the borough council’s response to this winter’s snow chaos.

As the most senior councillor, Cllr Heath, who now represents Basingstoke First Community Party, has resubmitted his mayoral nomination. It has been backed by Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent members. But tonight he faces competition from Cllr Keith Chapman, a Conservative Cabinet member and next most senior councillor, whose nomination has been signed by seven Tories.