Tories set out new priorities after council takeover

The new leader of Harborough District Council has set out his top priorities after the Conservatives took control of the authority.

Simon Whelband said he aimed to move quickly to improve street cleaning and support small businesses after winning a leadership election by 17 votes to 16 on Monday.

The 16-strong Conservative group has replaced a coalition of Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green and independent councillors who had run the council since 2023.

Outgoing Liberal Democrat council leader Phil Knowles said he was determined to hold the new Tory leadership to account from the opposition benches in a politically balanced council chamber.

Whelband said his party had made the leadership challenge and formed a minority administration after securing amendments to the ousted coalition's budget in February.

Whelband said: "Residents told us they want action on fly-tipping, cleaner streets, and better, more accessible play equipment and that is exactly what we will deliver.

"Small and micro businesses, particularly in hospitality, have been clear about the pressures they face.

"We will introduce a new small grants scheme to support them with rising costs.

"We want local councillors to have more of a say, so decisions are taken closer to the communities they serve.

"We will reshape the council's grants system so ward councillors have greater influence, ensuring funding is distributed fairly across every part of the district.

"This is a big task, but I have a strong team around me to help deliver it.

"We will refocus the council on these priorities, while giving clear reassurance to parish and town councils and community groups that they will continue to have our full support."

In order to free up resources to meet their own priorities, the Conservatives said they would delete £666,000 of funding for a major plan to rewild large areas of land near Market Harborough.

Monday's vote came days after the death of Labour Lutterworth East councillor David Gair.

Gair was a member of the coalition and his death altered the council's political balance ahead of the vote.

"I don't think anybody liked the way they [the Conservatives] did this," Knowles told the BBC.

"It didn't look good so soon after [the Labour councillor's death].

"Now the Tories have 16 councillors and the coalition has 15 councillors in opposition. We think we have the support of others too.

"If the Lutterworth by-election goes to anybody but the Conservatives they won't have the numbers in the chamber.

"There's now a heavy burden on them to deliver. We will be holding them to account to make sure they do not unpick all the good work we did in our three years."

Whelband, who paid tribute to Gair on Monday, said: "The date of the meeting was set weeks ago and we couldn't really change it.

"It's sad that councillor Gair passed away but the meeting was set so we had to go ahead with it."

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