An agreement still hasn’t been reached on who will run the Council in Tunbridge Wells following the defeat of the Conservative party at the local elections earlier this month.
Last night as the Times went to press [May 17], members of the Lib Dems, Alliance and Labour party were meeting to thrash out a plan to run the town hall as a three-party coalition.
But this newspaper has learnt that the Liberal Democrat group, which is now the largest party at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) and plans to take charge of the authority with help from the other parties, is already in disarray after the leader was challenged for his job.
Cllr Ben Chapelard saw his group of councillors increase to 16 from 12 during the local elections on May 5, which also led to the Conservatives losing eight members at the town hall.
Cllr Tom Dawlings who leads the Tory group has announced he will step down at the first Council meeting scheduled for next Wednesday (May 25) to allow the Lib Dems to form a Council with opposition members.
The Lib Dems are expected to propose Cllr Chapelard for the council leader role, but he needs the backing from the other parties, and ‘positive’ and ‘constructive’ talks took place at the weekend.
However, these talks had been delayed, frustrating other parties.
And the Times has learnt that the reason talks were delayed, was due to an internal Lib Dem leadership challenge to Cllr Chapelard.
Cllr Mark Ellis, who narrowly retained his St John’s ward seat by four votes to Labour candidate Mike Tapp, is understood to have challenged Cllr Chapelard for the leader’s job.
“The Lib Dems are expected to propose Cllr Chapelard for the council leader role, but he needs the backing from the other parties”
A vote was held among the Lib Dem group and Cllr Ellis was defeated.
The news comes after a number of high-profile resignations from the party last year, including former chairman Cllr James Rands, who now sits as an independent.
Neither Cllr Chapelard or Cllr Ellis would comment on the leadership challenge but a spokesman for the Lib Dems said it was just ‘part of normal business within the party’ and ‘unrelated to the negotiations with other parties’.
He added: “Ben won the vote, and Mark immediately offered his full support to Ben as leader.”
But the challenge to Cllr Chapelard does not bode well for any agreement to be reached between the parties to form an administration to run the Council.
And another sticking point could be getting approval from national party head offices.
The Labour party, whose local group under Sherwood councillor Hugo Pound is pushing for a ‘coalition of equals’, has in the past been prevented by its NEC (National Executive Committee) from joining council coalitions as a junior partner.
The group is the smallest of the parties undergoing talks, with just seven councillors.
If no progress on a coalition is made this week, beleaguered Tory leader Tom Dawlings could be forced to hold off on his resignation on May 25 until a new leader can be voted in.
However, Cllr Chapelard is confident an agreement will be done.
He told the Times yesterday (Tuesday): “Over the weekend, the Leaders of the Liberal Democrats, The Tunbridge Wells Alliance, and the Labour Party in Tunbridge Wells met to discuss coalition arrangements for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Discussions were collegiate, positive, and constructive.
“We are happy to announce that all three parties are going to work together in a Liberal Democrat-led Coalition to provide stable local government for the residents of the Borough.”
However, he added that the ‘details remain to be settled’ saying: “Once the Coalition Agreement has been concluded, it will be published for the public to view.”
