Councillor Julian McGhee-Sumner has been confirmed as the new leader of the Wokingham Conservatives group after he was the only councillor to put their name forward for the position.

The leadership was vacated by Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor who resigned on Thursday, November 15 after the group ousted her in a vote of no confidence.

Speaking to the News, Cllr McGhee Sumner said: "What I want to do is take us back to what a council should be doing. 

"I want us to to turn into a council that listens to its residents and tries to come up with solutions.

"People pay a fortune in council tax and we are not delivering.

"I think that has been lost for a while now."

The new leader added that it was a priority of his to appoint a new executive member for finance, a role the council has not been able to fill since Cllr McGhee-Sumner himself vacated it in September, by Friday (November 23).

He also said he wanted to get a permanent Chief Executive in at the council as soon as possible. 

However Cllr McGhee-Sumner may have to wait until December to be confirmed as the next leader of the council because of the authority’s rules.

The council’s constitution states that a seven day notice period should be given declaring a new leader before a full council meeting.

Barring an intervention from the opposition, Cllr McGhee-Sumner is expected to be named as the council’s next leader at the next full council meeting on December 13, the same meeting in which the council’s new Chief Executive will be announced.

The councillor is also Wokingham town's mayor and currently works in the finance industry. 

He has lived in Wescott since he was nine years old and became a councillor for the ward in 2007.