Warwick District Council leader dismisses calls to stand down
Ian Davison said his position is secure - even after a spate of public rows
WARWICK District Council leader Ian Davison resisted a call for his resignation at Thursday’s extraordinary meeting called by the Conservatives.
The head of the Green-Labour coalition that runs the authority faced questions over recent public rows, including an upheld formal complaint against Councillor Lowell Williams (Green, Kenilworth Park Hill), and resignations.
Cllr Davison (Green, Leamington Brunswick) and Cllr Williams were accused of disrespectful behaviour by Labour’s Helen Adkins, the district’s portfolio holder for housing at the time, in explaining her decision to stand down from the cabinet and as a councillor in July.
Cllr Williams was cleared of any wrongdoing against Dr Adkins but was found to have disrespected an officer of the council in a private meeting. He subsequently apologised.
That was followed by three councillors – Councillor Paul Wightman, Councillor Claire Wightman (both Warwick All Saints & Woodloes) and Councillor Dan Browne (Warwick Aylesford) – quitting Labour to stand as a group of independents, alleging the party is “not led in an ethical or inclusive way” by group leader and cabinet member Councillor Jess Melrose (Leamington Clarendon).
The Tories requested the meeting to discuss a number of issues with the top one being “the stability of the council’s operation” on the back of recent events.
Councillor Jan Matecki (Con, Budbrooke) made the call for Cllr Davison to vacate the top job, claiming the public spats had “laid bare a crisis of leadership and culture within Warwick District Council that can no longer be ignored”.
He said Dr Adkins’s words had been “damning” and argued that “eight months of delay and denial” in her dealing with her complaint “is not leadership, it is evasion”.
“Instead of accountability, we received a hollow apology and silence from the leader. This is not how a responsible administration behaves,” added Cllr Matecki.
“And the root of the rot does not stop there. Councillor Chris King (Lab, Leamington Clarendon), when confronted with statements he made to the press (on a planning matter), refused to take responsibility and went on to offer amnesia as his excuse instead of a meaningful apology.
“Then we have Councillor Jim Sinnott (Lab, Warwick Saltisford) who admitted to being, in his own words, incorrect and exhibiting poor form in how he addressed a fellow councillor. He also refused to apologise publicly despite being given every opportunity to do so. He acknowledged his mistake yet failed to show the humility and respect that public office demands.”
Cllr Matecki went on to “confront another uncomfortable truth, the toxic leadership within the Labour group itself”.
“Let me be clear, I have the utmost respect and admiration for those councillors who have had the courage to resign and speak out,” he continued.
“It takes integrity to walk away from a position of power when that power is being misused. It takes strength to call out wrongdoing, especially when it comes from within your own ranks. Their actions are not only principled but of service to this council and the public we serve.
“This is not just a crisis of administration, it is a crisis of conscience. If councillors feel compelled to walk away from their roles, citing toxic leadership and a lack of ethical standards, we must ask what kind of environment we are fostering as a council.
“We owe it to our residents, officers and democratic institutions to demand better. Respect is not optional, transparency is not negotiable and leadership must be earned and not imposed.
“Therefore I am calling publicly and unequivocally for a change of leadership. We need a new direction rooted in respect, transparency and accountability. We need leaders who listen and act and uphold the values of public service, not diminish them.
“Let this be the moment we draw the line. Is the leader prepared to resign and let this be the moment we begin to rebuild?”
Cllr Davison said the council had been going “full steam ahead” with the help of “great” staff on working to the corporate strategy, the framework that influences its policies.
“We have a united purpose on that,” said Cllr Davison.
“There have been good questions asked by group leaders, they are on the ball in that sense, but I haven’t had any indication that a change of direction is needed. Stability is not a problem to me.”
When asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Cllr Davison confirmed he was not considering standing down.
He had previously insisted both he and Cllr Williams “would love for that report (on the complaint) to be in the public domain, then we could go through it line by line and explain the situation”.
“Unfortunately, we are not able to do that,” he added, inviting those who wish to question that to raise it with monitoring officer Graham Leach, the council’s most senior legal official.
Cllr Williams later agreed that the final report on his conduct should be shared with councillors but stopped short of stating he would resign over the breach.
“I believe the audit and standards committee should review any circumstances carefully, look at the context and the facts and make a deliberation on the appropriate sanction,” he said.
Councillor Becky Davidson (Green, Radford Semele), who defected from the Conservatives in September 2024, asked about complaints related to other councillors not yet in the public domain and questioned the urge to lodge formal grievances.
“Things do happen that aren’t being made public and we should try to resolve things a bit more informally at times,” she argued.
That was met with a firm “yes” from leader Cllr Davison who had previously made the case for a “calmer way forwards” across the board.