Conservative Claire Vickers elected as new leader of Horsham District Council three months before elections

The Southwater North councillor was elected during an extraordinary meeting of the council on Thursday (February 2) by 19 votes to 12 with one abstention.

Ten councillors did not attend the meeting.

Andrew Baldwin, Christine Costin, Matthew Allen, Brian Donnelly, Billy Greening, Liz Kitchen, Louise Potter, David Skipp, James Wright and Christian Mitchell all sent their apologies.

The need to elect another leader did not go down well with the Liberal Democrats.

Martin Boffey, leader of the opposition, said he saw no reason why another leader should be chosen this close to May’s elections.

He added: “There are only 90 days until the May elections and I think we should let the electorate decide who should run this council – because until that time the most that can be expected is a caretaker administration.

“That’s all we have now.

“We already have an acting leader in [Tony] Hogben – I don’t really see why we need to appoint another one.”

Mr Boffey accused the Conservative group of being ‘incapable of governing even itself, let alone running this council’ and pointed to the Local Plan as the issue which had ‘brought them all down’.

Jonathan Chowen stood down as leader last month ‘as a matter of principle and conscience’ after his group voted to postpone the Local Plan until after May’s local election.

Michal Croker (Green, Bramber, Upper Beeding & Woodmancote) described the circumstances surrounding the resignation as ‘particularly demeaning to the public democratic process of this council’.

Mr Chowen had taken over from Paul Clarke, who resigned in late 2021 after just six months in the role.

Mr Clarke had in turn had succeeded long-time leader Ray Dawe, who stepped down saying he felt the best way forward for the revised Local Plan would be with a new leader.

Mr Boffey said: “Leading this council is not just about leading the Conservative group – or the half of the Conservative group that you might just get to vote for you – it’s about leading all of the council.

“The leader represents the whole council and all of our interests.”

His suggestion that Mrs Vickers had no interest in the views of those outside her own group was swiftly refuted by Mr Hogben.

He described her as having ‘a huge track record’ with the council, being ‘a loyal cabinet member for many years’, adding that she had been ‘a fabulous sub on the bench’ when needed.

Mr Hogben pointed out that the Conservatives counted four former leaders and 15 ex-cabinet members among their number, praising the ‘hugely experienced team running this council’.

But there was laughter from the opposition when he pointed out that the Liberal Democrats had had five leaders in seven years and the Tories had a ‘much more stable leadership’.

Mrs Vickers did not speak during the meeting.

She was a long-time cabinet member for planning under Mr Dawe’s leadership, spearheading the 2015 local plan, which allocated 2,750 homes at North Horsham.