THE chairman of the city council and another city councillor have clashed over the new leadership group.

It was announced at Monday night's full council meeting that instead of having a single council leader, the four group leaders will hold weekly meetings to provide "leadership and strategic direction".

During the meeting, councillor Atiqul Hoque was reprimanded by mayor and chairman of the council, Cllr Caroline Corbin, for criticising the lack of a sole leader.

Cllr Hoque said that "after years of criticism" from opposition parties that a Conservative-led council "can't do anything right", he found it "very upsetting and surprising that nobody was willing to put their name forward".

He added: "It's easy to talk the talk and not walk the walk."

Salisbury Journal: Atiqul Hoque, Conservative councillor for St. Francis and Stratford

Cllr Corbin criticised Cllr Hoque, saying he was the only person to put a negative spin on the leadership group.

Ian Tomes, Labour leader and Harnham East councillor, had said earlier it was with "some sadness" that a Lib Dem - Labour pact could not be formed to lead the council.

He added: "After a number of years of decline, we believe that a new opportunity has emerged, so you can see why it is with sadness that we have our offer of shared leadership rejected."

When Cllr Hoque then wanted to respond to Cllr Corbin's criticism, he was told the discussion was over and was told to "put his hand down".

'Disappointed'

Cllr Hoque told the Journal: "I'm disappointed that the chairman said only my comment was negative whereas another councillor said something similar and did not allow me to express my thoughts in Monday's meeting.

"I defer to the party's statement on the matter but want to be clear that I feel my right to contribute to the debate was hindered by the chair."

Salisbury Journal: Mayor of Salisbury, and chairman of the city council, Caroline Corbin

In response, Cllr Corbin said "there was no more room for debate", as the the decision had been taken by the group leaders before the meeting to agree a stance and provide a statement.

She added: "From my perspective I allowed all group leaders to speak as well as Ricky [Rogers] (Labour), Jeremy [Nettle], (conservative) and yes all 24 of us could have reacted with the disappointment of not having a leader but clearly the electorate want less infighting.

"And so I took the decision to, as I said, respectfully request that Atiqul doesn’t continue in a vein of negativity.

"Over the years of being a councillor alongside Atiqul I have sometimes agreed with him and sometimes not. It’s part of life.

"I in no way feel that a debate was necessary and look forward to working with all councillors over the coming year and will certainly give Councillor Hoque the opportunity on other matters to air his views."

'Important that debate is allowed'Salisbury Journal: Left to right: Cllrs Annie Riddle, Ian Tomes, Victoria Charleston, Paul Cunningham

Cllr Paul Cunningham, Conservative group leader, said the incident was of "concern".

He said: "As stated in the Civic Handbook 29.1; it is of utmost importance that the Chairman is politically neutral.

"It is with concern that we note that in Full Council the Chairman both passed comment on her own opinion of the political makeup of potential leadership and made a judgement on the content of a statement by a councillor, in so doing making a completely false allegation that this statement was the only negative speech.

"It is vital that the Chairman is a neutral referee and not a player - we must as councillors be allowed to speak freely in meetings and it is absolutely not for the Chairman to vet the content of statements nor to pass political judgements."

Victoria Charleston, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "While I support the Mayor's wish to keep bickering to a minimum, it is important that healthy, respectful debate is allowed between councillors.

"Salisbury deserves better than party political point scoring and I hope that the new council will focus more on our traffic problems and climate emergency rather than old grudges".

Annie Riddle, the Independent candidate, declined to comment.

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