LEADER of the Forest Council Tim Gwilliam says he is hopeful, but not confident, that he will be able to form an administration to run the council for the next four years ahead of an all-important meeting next week.

Outlining his ambition to stay on as Leader, Cllr Gwilliam called out Green councillor Chris McFarling, who could replace him as leader if his party can form an administration, for using a phrase he has often used himself during his time in office, that councillors should “leave politics at the door”.

Cllr Gwilliam says he finds that “hard to accept” from a group he feels have been unable to do just that over the last six years.

The Forest of Dean Green Party were the most successful group in the district council elections on May 4, securing 15 seats - up from seven previously.

Cllr Gwilliam’s Progressive Independents, which has led the council for six years in coalition with other councillors, lost two of its former cabinet members, Paul Hiett and Claire Vaughan, in wards where Green candidates were successful.

The result means the Greens have four more seats than the Independent councillors combined, but are five short of an overall majority on the 38-seat council.

An agreement with the three Lib Dems and five Labour councillors would give an administration a working majority.

But the Progressive Independents want to keep control of the authority, and are hoping to get more independents and the other parties on side in order to do so.

Who will run the council for the next four years will be determined at a meeting next Thursday (May 25).

Speaking at what could be his last outing as Leader of the Council, the visit of Her Royal Highness Princess Anne to the AccXel Centre in Cinderford, Cllr Gwilliam said of the situation: “This is the horse trading week, this week and next.

“The Greens are the most successful group, they could easily do a deal with another group.

“What I would say is those other parties and other groups are the ones that have been telling me for the last six years I’ve had the Greens in cabinet that they shouldn’t be there.

“So I would hope they’d look at that, and I would hope they would look at the successes we’ve had over the last six years.

“I’d hope they’d acknowledge the progressive way of doing things, being more business friendly, being more open to discussion, and stopping this negativity that was within our parties - because that’s what it was.

“We need to work together, that’s how we get money from the Government, that’s how we get £20 million coming into the Forest, by working together.

“And I hope whoever is in the next administration follows that through.

“And I hope it’s me!”

Asked how confident he is, Tim said: “Oh not confident, I wasn’t even confident of winning my own election.

“By I’ll say this, the Greens were exceptional, they did exceptionally well, but I think they did it on what they didn’t tell people, as much as what they did tell people.

”People care about the environment, and that’s why they got the vote, obviously the Conservative vote fell through the floor.”

He went on to criticise the Greens over their inability to “leave politics at the door” during the last six years, something which Cllr McFarling recently pledged to do.

“I saw Chris McFarling on BBC Points West and he used one of my sayings, which I’ve been saying for six years, ‘we need to leave politics at the door’,” Cllr Gwilliam said.

“In some ways that’s great, I take it as a backhanded compliment, but I find it very hard to accept from the very group that have been unable to do that for the last six years, and that always bring national ideologies into it.

“We need to address our environmental issues, we need to address carbon reduction, but we need to do it on a Forest of Dean basis.

“We’re not the United Nations, we can’t change worldwide issues overnight, and by doing things too quickly we will damage the Forest of Dean.”

Cllr McFarling said he would comment following next Thursday’s meeting, once all roles have been assigned.