Central Bedfordshire Council re-elects former leader

The leader of Central Bedfordshire Council has been reinstated just two weeks after resigning from the role.

Independent councillor Adam Zerny stepped down from heading the unitary council after a leadership challenge from his deputy Hayley Whitaker, who claimed she had been subjected to “unacceptable” behaviour.

Mr Zerny has now beaten Ms Whitaker in a leadership contest by 14 votes to 13.

He said he “had not expected this result” and there were now some “big issues to be getting on with”.

On 4 July, Mr Zerny announced he was stepping down as leader of the council after what he described as “a very productive year in charge”.

In a Facebook post he added that “managing a group of 27 Independently-minded people had been no easy task” and “felt like herding cats”.

The week before, Ms Whitaker took to social media alleging she had been sacked from the deputy leader role and from her position as lead on children’s services after mounting a leadership challenge against Mr Zerny.

In the same post she said she had made the challenge after being “subjected to a relentless pattern of behaviour within the executive” which she said was “wholly inappropriate and unacceptable”.

She added she had witnessed “several others being subjected to similar behaviours”.

The BBC has asked her to explain what she meant by this, and she has not done so.

She did not say who the allegations were directed at.

Both councillors were proposed as leaders at a full council meeting on Thursday with Mr Zerny winning by the one vote, although many of the 63 councillors abstained.

He said he “didn’t feel relief” adding that councillors had “a big job to do and we’ve only just begun it”.

When asked if a challenge like this could happen again he said: “One never knows what will happen round the corner.

“This council faces, big financial challenges over the next year; we set a tough budget and our aim is to ensure that this council sticks to it.”

Ms Whitaker said she “never wanted to be leader but from her own personal perspective, somebody had to do it”.

She added it was “time to draw a line under this” but that she was not confident the “inappropriate behaviour” she claimed she had experienced would not happen again.

Another councillor, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC that the last few weeks “had been like something out of a mafia drama with rival families emerging and fighting everywhere”.

Central Bedfordshire Council was set up as a unitary authority in 2009 – replacing the county and district council set-up in the county and providing all the council services in its area.

For the first 14 years it was run by the Conservatives, but in May 2023 at the local elections, the party lost control, leaving no single part with a majority.

With 27 councillors, the Independent group was put in charge.

The next elections are due to take place in 2027.