Tett approved by party at meeting

The Bucks County Council chief was proposed to remain as leader by his party at a meeting on Tuesday.

Last week the rumour mill was rife with speculation about Mr Tett’s position within the party.

Peter Hardy, who is currently the portfolio holder for finance and resources on Mr Tett’s cabinet, was tipped as a frontrunner if Mr Tett was ousted.

However, Mr Hardy himself refused to comment on the gossip, saying that it was a decision to be made in private by the party.

The final decision will be made at Bucks County Council’s full meeting next week, and only then will Mr Tett’s position for the year be fully rattified.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Tett described himself as ‘pretty happy’.

And speaking about his joy at at new Conservative majority government in Westminster he said: “We are delighted, we are all pleased that there is a majority Conservative government.

“Hopefully now they will make some real progress in the devolution of powers down to councils on a local level.

“We have already pushed forward with our tri-county alliance and need to plan ahead.

“At the moment we don’t know what our funding is going to be in adavance, but if we knew how much we were going to get from the government long term we could look at things like match-funding, and look to find funding from the private sector.

“We would like an indication of what th ten year picture looks like, and will lobby to retain a share of the business growth from Buckinghamshire, as they have done a very similar thing in Manchester and Leeds.”

Mr Tett was understood to have no plans to step down from his post, which he has held since taking over from David Shakespeare in 2011. He has lead the county’s fight against the HS2 rail link and is also the chair of the 51M group. Earlier this year he received criticism in a report by Ofsted into the authority’s children’s services department.