Derby City Council’s leader has been replaced after losing a confidence vote.
The vote of no confidence from opposition leaders related to the conduct and actions of Cllr Baggy Shanker regarding the failed Sinfin Waste Treatment Plant and an associated £93.9m invoice from Derbyshire County Council, which he has disputed.
Shanker was quoted by the BBC saying the motion was “a desperate act of political opportunism.”
The ex-leader is the Labour party’s candidate for the Derby South constituency in the general election.
Shanker’s deputy leader, Labour’s Nadine Peatfield, has taken his place after the vote to back the motion was tied, with mayor, Conservative, Ged Potter using his casting vote to force a new leader.
Organisations representing thousands of businesses, including the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) for the Cathedral Quarter and St Peters Quarter, plus Marketing Derby, as well as investors, such as St James Securities and Wavensmere Homes, submitted letters expressing deep concern about the introduction of political instability at a crucial time for Derby ahead of the vote.
At immediate risk is a huge sum of up to £500 million of investment with genuine fears that instability will further affect investor confidence costing the city jobs and investment.
Wavensmere Homes, which has already built over 900 new homes in the Nightingale Quarter, with a further 500 homes in the immediate pipeline, has said it may consider re-evaluating a further £250 million of investment in Derby.
St James Securities said that negotiations on the next phase of the £230 million Becketwell scheme were at a very sensitive stage and feared this might be threatened.
The BIDs are especially concerned about losing city centre regeneration momentum and yesterday Marketing Derby wrote to the mayor of Derby, Ged Potter, reiterating these concerns and urging a different approach be taken to solve any political problems.
