Wiltshire Council appoints new leader and cabinet

Wiltshire Council has appointed a new cabinet and named its new leader. Conservative Richard Clewer was appointed to the top job yesterday Tuesday (May 18). He will also take responsibility for economic development, alongside a number of other cabinet responsibilities.

Councillor Clewer has been a Wiltshire Councillor since the council’s creation in 2009, and his most recent position was deputy leader and cabinet member with responsibility for housing, communities, climate change, arts, heritage, tourism, and corporate services.

Councillor Laura Mayes has been confirmed as the council’s Deputy Leader. Cllr Mayes has also been a Wiltshire Councillor since the council’s creation and was most recently the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children, Education, and Skills.

The new leader has also confirmed the council’s cabinet and portfolio holders. The cabinet is the council’s principal decision-making body, and a cabinet member has delegated authority from the leader to make decisions on a number of matters.

The full list of appointments is as follows:

Cabinet members

• Richard Clewer, leader of the council with responsibility for military-civilian integration, economic development, heritage, arts, tourism and health and wellbeing
• Laura Mayes, deputy leader with responsibility for children’s services, education and skills
• Nick Botterill – development control, strategic planning and climate change
• Pauline Church – finance and procurement, commissioning, IT, digital and commercialisation
• Mark McClelland – transport, waste, street scene and flooding
• Jane Davies – adult social care, special educational needs and disabilities, transition and inclusion
• Phil Alford – strategic assets and asset transfer
• Ian Blair-Pilling – leisure, libraries, governance, facilities management and operational assets
• Simon Jacobs – public health, public protection, licensing, staffing, communities and area boards

Portfolio holders

• Nabil Najjar – arts, heritage and tourism
• Peter Hutton – safeguarding
• Dominic Muns – education
• Tamara Reay – climate change
• Kevin Daley – transport
• Suzanne Wickham – SEND
• Nick Holder – adults
• Robert Yuill – housing
• Sven Hocking – leisure and libraries
• Allison Bucknell – area boards

In addition to the cabinet and portfolio holder roles, the annual meeting saw councillor Stuart Wheeler appointed as chairman of the council, and the vice-chairman was confirmed as councillor James Sheppard.

Cllr Clewer said: “We have a lot of work ahead of us to help Wiltshire recover following Covid-19 and its undoubted impact going forward, but we will support residents and businesses to thrive so that Wiltshire continues to provide opportunities and be a place that people want to live, work, and visit.

“As well as the recovery work, the climate emergency will rightly continue to be at the heart of our decision making.”

The new appointments were confirmed at the annual meeting – the first after the May 6 election which saw the Conservatives take 61 of the 98 seats at the unitary authority.

The annual meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Trowbridge and was the first in-person public council meeting held since the pandemic.