'Power grab or the right time to act?': Harborough District Council Conservatives put forward motion to remove current administration

The motion was put forward after a council meeting on Monday March 16, when a vote put forward by the coalition administration to submit the district council’s local plan to a Government inspector, passed by 17 votes to 15.

Councillor Knowles, the Liberal Democrat leader of the authority, told the Harborough Mail: "It is the opposition’s democratic right should they wish to put in a motion to remove me, but I think people will see it for what it is, an attempted power grab."

"I would be happy to put the record of what we have achieved for the community on the line, and there is so much more that we want to do."

Explaining why they had submitted the motion, Cllr Simon Whelband, the leader of the Conservative-led opposition on Harborough District Council said: "We are the largest party on the district council, and after two by-election gains from the Liberal Democrats last year, our position is stronger than ever.

"The left-wing coalition is losing support and running out of steam.

"We didn’t stand for election to remain in opposition - we stood to lead.

"We believe we have a clear opportunity, and the time to act is now."

Last month at a district council budget meeting amendments by the Conservative-led opposition, which included pausing investment in the Rewilding Harborough project, which aims to restore nature at landscape scale by creating, restoring and connecting habitats across a 500-acre area, were passed by 18 votes to 16.

"We lost an amendment the opposition tabled at the 11th hour on the budget," Cllr Knowles said.

"It has proven to be an amendment that is not well evaluated."

Reacting to the decision to submit the local plan to the Government for independent examination Cllr Knowles said: "For many sites applications are either coming in or there are indications they may be coming in shortly.

"We want to get a plan in place because otherwise we could have many years of speculative development, and no control over it.

"If for any reason the plan does not go through, we would have a real problem.

"It is a difficult situation but we have taken steps to put the plan forward and protect the district."

Cllr Knowles added that he expected the date of the meeting, where the motion to remove him would be discussed, to be confirmed in the next few days.

Have you got a story you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at https://www.yourworld.net/submit/ It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.