Labour’s Paul Peacock appointed new leader of Newark and Sherwood Distrcit Council

A new council leader has been chosen after an agreement was finally reached.

Newark and Sherwood District Council will now be led by Labour group leader, Paul Peacock, following a vote at the first full council meeting following the local elections three weeks ago.

On being elected, the new leader said: “My style of leadership will be less about me and more about us.”

It follows weeks of uncertaintly about how the new council would be led after the Conservatives lost control of the council, taking just 14 of the 39 available seats during the local elections, with Labour and the Independents winning 11 seats each and the Liberal Democrats holding three.

Paul Peacock said there had been a seismic change across the country during the elections and praised the Independents of Newark as being a breath of fresh air for the council.

He also announced that the new administration would place communication with the public at the forefront as well as move to introduce more portfolio holders into the cabinet.

Speaking with the Advertiser, Mr Peacock said: “I’m really happy to have become leader and I’m looking forward to getting on with the job.

“I feel a big responsibility to this council to make sure that there is a strong political leadership moving forward.

“In the vote we had the support of many of the Independents and the Liberal Democrats, which shows that having cross-party conversations was the right thing to do.”

The new leader stressed that there will now be a focus on working collaboratively, as no single party holds enough seats for overall control of the council.

“We have no formal coalition as yet, but we are starting to develop relationships with other parties,” he said.

“Through our discussions, it was clear that we have shared goals and however we move forward they will be respected as equal players.

“The most striking feature will be how the council does business.

“It is my aim that decision making is made more transparent and more councillors are involved in that process.

“It is my point of view that too few people have been making decisions with residents money. We want to restructure the cabinet system in a way that increases the number of positions and make sure our scrutiny systems function.”

Mr Peacock said that the council needed to re-emphasise its commitments, particularly in regards to the environment by reducing the council’s carbon footprint and protecting green spaces, increasing access to health, arts and leisure services, tackling anti-social behaviour and looking at how housing issues are dealt with.

“We have got challenges that have been passed onto us by the previous council,” he said

“Some of those challenges are going to be difficult to deal with but we are elected to make decisions and act in the best interests of the residents of Newark and Sherwood and I think how we act now will reflect that.

“I have been critical of the council in the past that it is too distant from our communities. We will work to engage more, hold more meetings away from Newark and get out on the street and look our residents in the eye.

“A big focus should now be on transparency, because as the elections clearly showed, people have lost trust in politicians higher up and we need to buck that trend and change those perspectives.”

Appointing an interim cabinet Mr Peacock said it represented a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience.

The leader himself will take up the position of portfolio holder for strategy, performance and finance, with Matthew Spoors as deputy leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council and portfolio holder for economic growth, Claire Penny as portfolio holder for organisational development and governance, Lee Brazier as portfolio holder for housing and health, and Paul Taylor as portfolio holder for cleaner, safer, greener.

The leader of the opposition, Rhona Holloway, was invited to sit on cabinet without a portfolio.