Feuding Torbay councillors pledge to bury the hatchet

Warring Torbay councillors have pledged to ‘draw a line’ under the political rows which earned them a rebuke from their national watchdogs.

A hard-hitting report from the Local Government Association (LGA) has told them to spend less time arguing and more time serving the public, and asked them what they wanted their legacy to be for the bay.
The report, compiled after a wide-ranging peer-review earlier this year, highlighted areas where the council was doing well, but urged members to do better at working together.
The council’s cabinet responded by giving their unanimous backing to a 15-point action plan to address issues raised by the LGA.
The report also urged the council not to waste their ‘moment in time’, with tens of millions of pounds in government money to spend on major projects around the bay.
Rifts have appeared in the council in recent months, with the balance now split evenly between 18 Tory councillors and 18 opposition members. The council is currently under no overall political control and the casting vote on any important full-council decision rests with the Conservative mayor.
Recent council meetings have been marred by angry exchanges.
But council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) said when the council was reviewed by the LGA in 2015 it had been a ‘basket case’, and huge progress had been made since then.
And deputy leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) said the report contained more good than bad.
“We should draw a line under what has gone on before,” he said. “It has been a very political year.”
Liberal Democrat group acting leader Swithin Long (Barton with Watcombe) added: “Things need to change on behalf of our residents. Being a councillor should be about public service, rather than being about gain for a particular political party.”
And independent group leader Darren Cowell (Shiphay) summed up: “We need to think about the things that unite us rather than what may divide us.
“And what does unite us is a determination to drive forward with economic regeneration.”