SOUTH Gloucestershire Council has a new leader, after the previous councillor in charge was elected as an MP.
Liberal Democrat Maggie Tyrrell was elected at a meeting of the council on July 17.
The vote followed the resignation of fellow Lib Dem Claire Young, who stepped down from the position after taking the Thornbury & Yate seat from Conservative Luke Hall at the general election on July 4.
Cllr Tyrrell is one of only two members to serve on the council since it was created 29 years ago and also served on predecessor Northavon, representing residents of Thornbury for a total of 37 years.
The other ever-present South Gloucestershire councillor, Mike Drew (Lib Dem, Yate North), nominated her as leader at the meeting.
The joint Lib Dem/Labour administration unanimously voted in favour of Cllr Tyrrell but opposition Conservatives voted against.
Cllr Tyrrell said: “It’s an enormous privilege to be elected as leader to this council and I want to thank my colleagues for putting their trust in me and electing me to this privileged position.
“I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor Claire Young. She served this council very well and was an excellent leader and was very diligent in all she did, so I thank her sincerely for her service.”
Council co-leader Ian Boulton (Lab, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield) said: “I’m very happy to second Maggie as leader of the council.
“Having known Maggie for a while – we’ve worked together co-chairing scrutiny – I’m sure this will be a seamless transition.”
Tory group deputy leader Cllr Liz Brennan (Frenchay & Downend) told the meeting: “Maggie is a longstanding member who has always executed her duties as a councillor with kindness, dignity and a keen sense of fair play.
“Despite this, the Conservative group will be voting against the nominee presented to us tonight.
“To be clear, this is not a judgement on the nominee herself, but on the manner in which the joint administration has conducted itself over the past year.”
For the time being Cllr Young will remain a ward councillor but says she will stand down entirely from the council in due course, so she can “focus on doing one job well”.
She said: “The important thing is to do this in a way that doesn’t cause unnecessary problems for the Council or most importantly the people in my ward.
“I would like to take time to progress issues raised by residents and other outstanding commitments before finally resigning as ward councillor.”
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service