Tory Council Leader Mellor Must Go

10.52.00pm GMT Thu 16th Oct 2003

Lib Dem leader Cllr. Chris Maines is calling for the resignation of Tory council leader Russell Mellor

Visionless, incompetent and inept in his dealings with Council Officers are the grounds for local Liberal Democrat leader Chris Maines to say that Russell Mellor, Conservative Leader of Bromley Council should resign.

The Council Leader's working relationship with senior Council Officers appears to have broken down. This week the Tory Council Leader extended the holiday of David Bartlett, the Council's Chief Executive. "The events this week have been extraordinary" claimed Cllr Chris Maines "the Senior Management team have been left speechless by the actions of Cllr Russell Mellor. The whole Council is waiting with baited breath to find out the next bizarre move."

An emergency Conservative Group meeting was held on Thursday 16th October in an attempt to bring to a halt the chaos. During Mr Bartlett's absence Conservative councillors have been seen in the corridors of Bromley Council, openly criticising their Leader and plotting his downfall.

The breakdown of trust between Cllr Mellor and his colleagues and between him and senior Council Officers is leaving the Council in a state of inertia. Yet the Council has already overspent this year's Education budget by three-quarters of a million pounds, and Social Services is overspent by £1.2million demonstrating the lack of financial control by Cllr Mellor's administration.

"The Conservatives claim they can live within a budget that they set but Cllr Mellor gives the impression of being totally indifference as spending goes through the roof and he argues with colleagues about other issues." says Cllr Chris Maines, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

"The difference between Iain Duncan-Smith's failure as a leader and Cllr Mellor's is that Russell Mellor controls a budget of £250 million of Bromley taxpayers money," said Cllr Maines as he compared the leadership crisis the Conservative Party have nationally and locally.