Gloucestershire County Council leader Barry Dare to stand down
THE leader of Gloucestershire County Council is to step down.
Councillor Barry Dare will tender his resignation when the council meets next Wednesday.
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Barry Dare
Mr Dare, who has represented Moreton and Stow for the Conservatives since 1993, has led the authority since 2005.
His successor will be chosen at a meeting of Tory councillors to be held at Shire Hall tomorrow evening.
Mr Dare took over the Conservative group in 2002, and led them to take control of the county council for the first time in 20 years at the elections in 2005. The party were returned with an increased majority in 2009.
Mr Dare said: "It's good to be going out on a high note, particularly after the Conservative success in the General Election in Gloucestershire, but the time has come to retire and take life a bit easier.
"I am immensely proud of the work we have done, and I want to thank councillors of all parties and the dedicated staff at the council.
"I will continue to serve the people of Moreton and Stow as their councillor from the back benches, and I look forward to supporting whoever is elected as leader of the council."
Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of the authority's Liberal Democrat group, said: "There have been rumours going around Barry would step down after the general election, so this is not a surprise.
"The council is in need of new leadership, its finances are rather tenuous at the moment, with £12 million of unidentified cuts to find, and I hope any new administration will show more dynamism.
"On a personal note, I wish Barry well in his retirement, he has worked hard on the council for many years now."
Councillor Steve McHale, leader of the Labour group, added: "Although we have had a lot of political differences, Barry was always a very easy man to work with.
"He was an honourable politician, whatever he said he was going to do, he did.
"Although I disagreed with much of his politics, I am sorry to see him stepping down."
Citizen Editor Ian Mean is writing about Mr Dare on his blog today. Click here to read what he thinks.
6 Comments
by Joe K, Barton & Tredworth
Wednesday, May 12 2010, 4:28PM
“And wait...”
by Joe K, Barton & Tredworth
Tuesday, May 11 2010, 9:19PM
“If it's in moderation, sounds like it worked. Now you just have to wait until Ian Mean, or whoever else has access, to approve the post, and bingo!”
by Quedgeley Guy, Quedgeley
Tuesday, May 11 2010, 8:15PM
“I've just given it another try,Joe K.
Checked my Firefox settings first and cookies were off.
All other sites have worked,so I don't know if that was the problem.
I did get a popup that said it's gone into moderation.
I'll check it later. If it's not working,I'll abandon it.”
by Joe K, Barton & Tredworth
Tuesday, May 11 2010, 7:06PM
“If you can see the boxes, they *should* do something, Quedgeley Guy. You might have to 'await moderation' for your first post, but after that, as long as you didn't bug the boss man, your comments will go straight through. I assume, though, that you'd know if you got that far, so maybe a bug? It's working for me at the moment...”
by Mimi, Cheltenham
Tuesday, May 11 2010, 3:02PM
“Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
by Quedgeley Guy, Quedgeley
Tuesday, May 11 2010, 10:05AM
“Ian Mean (the citizen editor) mentions this on his blog (Straight Talking).
Does anyone know how to post a comment as the Site
http://ianmean.wordpress.com/
doesn't seem to have a login point and filling in the bottom boxes does nothing.”