Covid-19 uncertainty installs Councillor Denise Clews as Atherstone's civic leader for next two years

ATTEMPTS TO KEEP POSITIONS OF COUNCIL CHAIRMAN AND MAYOR A SEPARATE ENTITY DEFEATED

TORY COUNCILLOR RAY JARVIS WINS VOTE-OFF FOR TOWN DEPUTY ROLE AT 'VIRTUAL' MEETING

CORONAVIRUS has laid another big hand on Atherstone's population after town councillors agreed to double the term of office of its civic leaders to a two-year stint.

Atherstone Town Council members took the decision at the annual meeting – traditionally a straightforward curtain raiser to the civic year – in view of the "present situation" regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

But these are not normal times and the meeting was the first 'virtual' gathering in the authority's history with all the action relayed courtesy of Zoom, which combines mobile collaboration, cloud video conferencing and simple online meetings into one platform.

And the online meeting produced a number of political divergences of opinion on how the town council should be led in the coming years including whether to "reunie" its two leading roles.

Central member Jacky Chambers pushed for the status quo to be maintained with a separate chairman and mayor which has been in situ for the year 2019/20.

Councillor Chambers felt the move which saw Councillor David Wright as chairman and Councillor Carl Gurney as mayor last year had "worked extremely well in terms of the distribution of workload and the ways both those roles were fulfilled".

She called for the "the split" to be maintained despite the "custom and practice" of previous years for the duties to be carried out by one person, adding: "I think it very helpful to have two different individuals fulfilling them."

But the annual meeting was a night for party loyalities to be strictly followed with Tory members voting down the proposal and Atherstone South Councillor Denise Clews being installed – as predicted by Nub News – as both chairman and mayor.

Councillor Ray Jarvis then proposed, and it was agreed, that the position be held for two years as no one is sure when Covid-19 will allow civic duties to return to normal, if that is ever totally possible.

Two councillors were then put forward for deputy chairman – Tory Cllr Jarvis – and Labour Councillor Sara Bishop.

By the same margin of eight to six, which marked the voting intentions all night, Cllr Jarvis took the role.

New civic leader Cllr Mrs Clews thanked Cllr Wright for his work over the previous two years and promised Cllr Gurney, who had to shield for the last two months of his term as mayor, would get an a proper farewell event.

Cllr Mrs Clews said she couldn't thank the two clerks – Odette Ghent and Sally Oldham – enough for how they have "carried is through this".

She also praised praised the people "of this small town" and businesses for pulling together amid the virus crisis.

"It is amazing how businesses have been helping other people," she said.

At the end of the public part of the meeting, Councillor Jarvis thanked Ben Oldham – son of the deputy clerk – for his help going "above and beyond" with the council's IT and newsletter and called on the authority to make a donation of £200 towards his future studies next year at what is expected to be Cambridge University.