THE leader of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is set to step down this evening (Thursday) due to "disharmony" within the Conservative group.
Councillor Joan Spiers, who has been leader of the council for 12 years, is expected to announce her resignation this evening at a full council meeting.
High-profile clashes with Reigate MP Crispin Blunt over the council's Core Strategy and Mr Blunt's reselection for next year's election have cast a shadow over the Tories in recent months.
But it was the threat of a vote of no confidence while Cllr Spiers was in hospital last year, which sealed her decision to step away.
She told the Mirror: "There was a great deal of disharmony when I was sick [last year]. One member tried, in my absence, to have a vote of no confidence.
"When I heard it, I was in my hospital bed and I made up my mind that if that is what they thought, it was time to move on and let someone else take the flack."
Cllr Spiers admitted the clashes with Mr Blunt had also fuelled the discord.
In a surprise move, Mr Blunt was not automatically reselected by the Reigate and Banstead Conservatives as the 2015 Tory candidate for Reigate at the end of last year. But after winning a vote by rank-and-file members of the group, Mr Blunt said he would find it "impossible" to work with colleagues who had failed to support his bid.
Cllr Spiers said: "I was bitterly disappointed to hear that sort of comment from our MP who I have served faithfully since I got in."
The long-standing leader, who led the council from 2001-2007 and then again since 2008, announced her decision to step down in April. She will remain a councillor for Kingswood with Burgh Heath, where she has served for the last 30 years.
Reflecting on her time as leader, Cllr Spiers said: "It's been fantastic. I have loved every minute of it and I think we have achieved a great deal in 12 years.
"You only get out what you put in and you're expected to put in a great deal. But it's a great thing when something that is in your head actually happens, it's amazing."
She added: "The [plans for the regeneration of] Priory Park were done on the back of a menu when I was bored. I was sitting having dinner with two people who were boring me to death and I started to doodle and that is what I doodled and I took it to the director, who's since moved on, and then took it to the officers and they did it."
Cllr Spiers also said she was proud of Horley Leisure Centre, Donyngs Leisure Centre, and the regeneration of areas such as Preston and Merstham. But she added that the job is not without its challenges: "It's a six days a week job. Mainly the members [are the biggest challenge] because nothing pleases them all. They are all very diverse and have got their own opinions. Some of them are educated opinions and some of them are not. So that is the biggest job, keeping them all happy.
"The second job for me is getting on well with the officers and I get on very well with the officers we have got now. You have to have open and frank discussions, that is important. I can honestly say I have never told either the officers or the councillors a lie. I like to be quite straight and quite honest and tell them the way it is."
