Leader predicts an exciting year ahead for district council

A NEW chairman has been appointed at Bassetlaw District Council, though political might still rests with the same council leader and Cabinet members.

Councillor Ken Bullivant was elected chairman, succeeding Helen Colton, who lost her council seat in this year's local election. Meanwhile Councillor Mary Stokes replaces Mr Bullivant as vice-chairman.

Councillor Mike Quigley has retaken the council leadership. The Cabinet is unchanged.

In her farewell speech Ms Colton thanked her supporters and promoted her two favoured charities; Focus on Young People in Bassetlaw (FoYPiB) and the Alzheimer's Society.

"It is obviously a great honour to be elected chairman and I'm grateful to my fellow councillors for giving me the opportunity," she said. "I have really enjoyed conducting daily events. Visits to the various nursing homes were surprisingly entertaining, with many funny stories.

"I would like to thank councillors from all parties for their help and friendship over the past couple of weeks."

"We have many talented youngsters in Bassetlaw, but unfortunately many of them never get the publicity they deserve," she said of FoYPiB.

Both FoYPiB and the Alzheimer's Society were then presented with cheques for an equal share of £4,560 raised by Ms Colton.

Mr Quigley was re-elected as leader of the council, while Councillor Keith Isard took over as deputy leader from Councillor Terry Yates.

Meanwhile, all six members of the Cabinet returned to their original posts, with Mr Quigley taking responsibility for community engagement and performance while Mr Isard took up the post for community prosperity and chair of planning.

Councillor Mike Pugsley has resumed responsibility for environment and housing and Cllr Terry Yates has again taken finance and property.

Support services will still be the responsibility of Councillor Kath Sutton and revenue and customer services will fall once more into the domain of Councillor Chris Wanless.

In a speech to the council Mr Quigley said the authority was "still not finished", citing several points to be addressed by its new corporate plan for 2010.

"We are looking at improvements in Retford town square and we're looking at improving the station on Bridge Street," he said. "We've got another exciting year coming and I'm proud to be your leader and take you through that."

Last week's annual meeting was tinged with a note of sadness, as members paid respects to two former council employees. John Whittle and Phil Fores both died recently.