At its annual meeting, Conservative Cllr Richard Clewer has today (18 May) been confirmed as the new Leader of Conservative led Wiltshire Council, and he has appointed his Cabinet and Portfolio holders.
Cllr Clewer has been a Wiltshire Councillor since the council's creation in 2009, and his most recent position was Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Housing, Communities, Climate Change, Arts, Heritage, Tourism and Corporate Services.
Cllr Laura Mayes has been confirmed as the council's Deputy Leader. Cllr Mayes has also been a Wiltshire Councillor since the council's creation and was most recently the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children, Education, and Skills.
The new Leader has also confirmed the council's Cabinet and Portfolio holders. The Cabinet is the council's principal decision-making body, and a Cabinet Member has delegated authority from the Leader to make decisions on a number of matters.
The full list of appointments is as follows:
- Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council with responsibility for MCI, Economic Development, Heritage, Arts, Tourism and Health and Wellbeing
- Cllr Laura Mayes, Deputy Leader with responsibility for Children's Services, Education and Skills
- Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Control, Strategic Planning and Climate Change
- Cllr Pauline Church, Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement, Commissioning, IT, Digital and Commercialisation
- Cllr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste, Street Scene and Flooding
- Cllr Jane Davies, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND, Transition and Inclusion
- Cllr Phil Alford, Cabinet Member for Housing, Strategic Assets and Asset Transfer
- Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Libraries, Governance, Facilities Management and Operational Assets
- Cllr Simon Jacobs, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Public Protection, Licensing, Staffing, Communities and Area Boards
- Cllr Nabil Najjar, Portfolio Holder for Arts, Heritage and Tourism
- Cllr Peter Hutton, Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding
- Cllr Dominic Muns, Portfolio Holder for Education
- Cllr Tamara Reay, Portfolio Holder for Climate Change
- Cllr Kevin Daley, Portfolio Holder for Transport
- Cllr Suzanne Wickham, Portfolio Holder for SEND
- Cllr Nick Holder, Portfolio Holder for Adults
- Cllr Robert Yuill, Portfolio Holder for Housing
- Cllr Sven Hocking, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Libraries
- Cllr Allison Bucknell, Portfolio Holder for Area Boards
In addition to the Cabinet and Portfolio Holder roles, the annual meeting saw Cllr Stuart Wheeler appointed as Chair of the Council, and the Vice Chair was confirmed as Cllr James Sheppard.
Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said:
It is a huge honour to be given this responsibility and I'm privileged to lead Wiltshire Council and represent its residents. People can be assured my team and I will work tirelessly to ensure this council delivers for them.
I'd like to thank my predecessor Cllr Philip Whitehead for expertly and sensitively steering the council and county through the most challenging of times during the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought out the very best in people and our communities. It has demonstrated that the foundations are in place for us to feel optimistic about the future.
I've picked a talented team of people as my Cabinet and Portfolio Holders and we're all looking forward to working with the council's leadership team and officers to help achieve our collective vision.
We have a lot of work ahead of us to help Wiltshire recover following COVID-19 and its undoubted impact going forward, but we will support residents and businesses to thrive so that Wiltshire continues to provide opportunities and be a place that people want to live, work, and visit.
As well as the recovery work, the climate emergency will rightly continue to be at the heart of our decision making.
The meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Trowbridge and was the first in-person public council meeting held since the pandemic. Safety measures were in place which saw attendees socially distanced, wearing face masks, hand sanitiser available, and a one way system in place. The meeting was also streamed live, and people can watch a replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwK6SU-uSBA
On returning to face-to-face meetings, Cllr Clewer added
It was a positive step forward to return to face-to-face meetings following more than a year of virtual meetings. I'd like to thank everyone involved for making the meeting as safe as possible, and I hope that we will be able to move forwards and continue to hold face-to-face public meetings as normal. We've also demonstrated how much engagement can be done through online meetings over the past year, so hopefully going forward we can provide the best of both worlds to meet everyone's lifestyles and circumstances.
The full agenda for the meeting can be found on the Wiltshire Council website. Minutes will be available in due course.
