The leader of the county council has faced calls to announce he will not bid to take on the top role at a new authority in Bucks as a major shake-up looms.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Chiltern District Council (CDC), Peter Jones, made the call at a meeting on Wednesday (April 11) – which was met with laughter by fellow district councillors.

However Cllr Tett hit back, saying it will be down to the councillors on the new authority to decide if he should continue as leader.

Cllr Jones said: “We have to see this as a new council.

“Although clearly this is nothing to do with me, it would probably be to the new council’s advantage if Cllr Tett was going to announce that he wasn’t going to be the leader of it.

“As I said, nothing to do with me. But you can see the point that I am making. It has to be a new council, and seen as such by our voters.”

The meeting was arranged to discuss the next steps for the district council after the Government backed county council plans to create a single-unitary authority in the county last month.

Wycombe, South Bucks, Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale district councils have publicly opposed proposals since they came to light in 2016 – and later submitted their own plans to Government for two unitary authorities in the county.

During the meeting,  CDC councillors agreed to spend up to £40,000 on sending their views on the plans to secretary of state Sajid Javid before the public consultation ends on May 25.

Speaking to the Bucks Free Press, Cllr Tett said: “The decision of who is leader of the new council will be the decision of the new unitary councillors, because there will be new elections that will choose new councillors.

“They may be some of the existing councillors, they will almost certainly be a vast majority of ex-district councillors, because there are vast numbers of them by comparison with county councillors and they will elect their new leader.

“It could well be the current leader of CDC is the leader of the new unitary council. The decision is entirely in the hands of the new members.”

Representations regarding plans for a single-unitary authority in Bucks can be sent to sajid.javid@communities.gsi.gov.uk.