7 hours Ago By Aimee Seddon
Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Lancashire Evening Post, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Resignations came after a failed ‘no confidence’ motion by Lib-Dems against Independent Coun Asjad Mahmood, Pendle Council’s leader. The motion, dealt with by an extraordinary full council meeting, did not win enough support in a crunch vote by councillors with independents, formerly in the Labour Party, voting against the motion and Conservatives abstaining.
Advertisement Advertisement But taxi safety checks and enforcement remains a controversial topic. Taxi safety has been a long-running controversy between Pendle councillors. Calls for routine app checks arose after unannounced vehicle checks highlighted many problems.
The debate also highlighted hard-up councils’ reliance on taxi licensing income and legal but inconsistent arrangements by different councils, whereby some, such as Wolverhamption or Knowsley, can grant licences to taxi drivers based anywhere. Advertisement Advertisement A deadline requiring taxi drivers to use a mobile phone app for car safety checks was delayed at the end of Decemeber, casting it in doubt. A Pendle Council by-election is also due in Colne in March after Conservative Kieran McGladdery resigned in protest over taxi issues.
He intended to raise concerns with the local Conservative Association, Pendle Council’s monitoring officer, and, if necessary, other organisations. Lib-Dem Coun David Whipp, still the council’s deputy leader as the meeting began, said: “I have no pleasure whatsoever in doing this. My group is quite proud of the impact we have had in the current shared administration.
At the start of this administration, we had a list of objectives and there have been some achievements.” Advertisement Advertisement He said examples included work on leisure centres, a new local plan, empty houses, Colne Market Hall and Colne Municipal Hall, West Craven town centres and the council sacking ‘licence-to-print-money contractors’ who handed out fines for alleged littering. But Coun Whipp said an agreement in March 2024 for new taxi safety measures was stalled in December by some councillors at a full council meeting.
He added: “That decision by the Independent group and several Conservatives has put public lives at risk. It undermined the agreement between Lib-Dems and Independents. We have worked well together and have amenable relationships.
But scrapping the taxi measures crossed a red line. “Let’s not under-play that December vote or the app’s significance. Keiran McGladdery resigned over taxi matters, gave a damning verdict about the Conservatives and, I understand, has reported the issue to the council and police.
“I have no personal animosity to Asjad Mahmood, the leader. The wording of this no-confidence motion reflects council procedures. We Lib-Dems would have been prepared to withdraw this motion if things were different.
We regret councillor Mahmood’s decision not to withdraw as leader. We would embrace an administration that shares the borough’s breadth of geography and political opinion.” Advertisement Advertisement Lib-Dem Coun David Hartley supported the no-confidence call.
He said: “I am a new councillor. My election was a vote of trust by the people. I speak with lots of people regularly.
I’ve not heard one person say they don’t support introducing the taxi app. We want safety. Taxi drivers do a good job but we must know vehicles are 100 per cent safe.
” He added: “Kieran McGladdery resigned over this. He complained, saying personal relationships were more important than public safety. We know councillors tend to vote in groups.
But we have got to consider whether our vote echoes the views of the people?” Independents and Conservatives opposed the no-confidence motion. Independent Mohammed Iqbal said: “This meeting is not about taxi safety. It’s about removing the council leader.
I’m disappointed Coun Whipp has done this. He has years of experience and our groups have worked well together. “We’ve had our differences but never gone to extremes.
But tonight, Asjad Mahmood, the leader, is being forced into a corner. The December taxi vote was not his decision. It was taken in a vote by all councillors in all parties.
Advertisement Advertisement “We did not cancel the taxi safety app. We suspended its introduction. We also called for meaningful talks.
Currently, only 30 of over 800 drivers have signed-up. How can the taxi committee deal with 800 drivers who haven’t signed-up? It’ll be impossible. Let’s be pragmatic and not play politics.
Councillors should reject this motion.” Conservative Martyn Stone said: “When the current shared administration began, our group predicted a coalition of chaos. Councillor Whipp always said it’s not a coalition, it’s a shared administration.
But he has not denied the chaos. “This motion seems purely political. Coun Whipp spoke about successes of the Lib-Dems.
But these are successes of all councillors working together. “No councillor would ever vote to overturn taxi safety checks. We were talking about an app that has never been used.
We suspended it for six months. Advertisement Advertisement “This motion is blatant electioneering. Political theatre.
Coun Whipp is a doyen of disorder. A master of mayhem. This is an attack on the leader and an attempt to sow chaos.
But councillors want to work across parties with each other.” Join our new WhatsApp Community to get the latest news and top stories from across Lancashire directly to your phone. Conservative Nadeem Ahmed said: “We’ve got really important things coming up including the budget, devolution and new damning audit report.
These are what we should be discussing. Then there’s the cost of holding this meeting – £1,000. “If Coun Whipp put his name forward for leader, the Conservatives wouldn’t support him.
Nor the Independents. No political group has a majority here. Asjad Mahmood should remain leader.
” Advertisement Advertisement Yasser Iqbal of Pendle True Independents said: “Some councillors are trying to take down the leader who was agreed by the Independents and Lib-Dems. But if Asjad Mahmood is removed, we would not support David Whipp or Nadeem Ahmed to become leaders. That’s not personal.
It’s political. We might support Asjad because he is an independent. If he was Labour, it would be a different matter.
” Independents left Labour last year over disagreements with the national party including Israel-Palestine issues, councillors’ rights to voice opinions and Labour suspensions..
