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New chair of Morecambe Town Council elected after narrow vote

Friday, 26 May 2023 05:58

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Councillor Claire Cozler is the new chair of Morecambe Town Council

A new chair of Morecambe Town Council has been elected after the largest group on the council's candidate was defeated in a narrow vote.

Claire Cozler, of the Labour group, was voted in as the new chair at a meeting on Thursday night.

Councillor Cozler replaces Cary Matthews of Together for Morecambe, who lost her seat in the recent local elections.

The Labour councillor was chosen after a head-to-head vote against Councillor Geoff Knight of the Morecambe Bay Independents, the majority group on the town council.

Twelve of the 23 councillors present (seven Labour, four Liberal Democrats, and independent Trish Clarke) sided with Councillor Cozler, with the 11 MBIs voting for Councillor Knight.

The same situation occurred in the vote for vice-chair, with Councillor Paul Hart of the Lib Dems (pictured below) defeating Councillor Knight, 12 votes to 11.

The MBIs, with 14 councillors in total, have the largest group on the town council and are the majority party, but three of their number did not attend the Annual Meeting held at Morecambe Town Hall and so were unable to vote.

Apologies were received from Councillors Keri Gee, Wayne Dixon and Jackie Rogerson.

Cary Matthews, before officially standing down as chair, opened the meeting by congratulating all new members of the council on being elected.

Twenty of the 26 councillors who were elected earlier this month, had not been on the town council prior to the elections.

Also at Thursday's meeting, members of the various town council committees were chosen as follows:

Grants: Keri Lee, Wayne Dixon, Debbie Knight, Jason Slater (MBIs), Claire Cozler, Christian Ainscough, John Goodrich (Labour), Jim Pilling, John Livermore (Lib Dems), Trish Clarke (Independent)

Personnel: Roger Dennison, Brett Cooper, Geoff Knight, Jason Slater (MBIs), John Goodrich, Margaret Pattison, Christian Ainscough (Labour), Paul Hart, Monika Stenneken (Lib Dems)

Festivals, Sponsorship and Events: Keri Lee, Russell Walsh, Faye Cooper, Lee Bradbury (MBIs), Margaret Pattison, Claire Cozler, John Hanson (Labour), John Livermore, Paul Hart (Lib Dems), Trish Clarke (Independent) - Margaret Pattison was elected chair of this committee unopposed

Finance and Governance: Clark Kent, Martin Bottoms, Brett Cooper, Geoff Knight (MBIs), John Goodrich, Joanne Ainscough, David Whitaker (Labour), Jim Pilling, John Livermore (Lib Dems) - Brett Cooper was elected chair of this committee after a vote, John Goodrich was the opposing candidate

Environment: Clark Kent, Geoff Knight, Jackie Rogerson, Dan Blacow (MBIs), Joanne Ainscough, Claire Cozler, David Whitaker (Labour), Paul Hart, Jim Pilling (Lib Dems), Trish Clarke (Independent) - Joanne Ainscough was elected chair of this committee unopposed.

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