FERRIS Cowper, the pioneer of a new way of running local government, is to step down as leader of East Hampshire District Council (EHDC).
Mr Cowper, 67, who has twice been the council’s leader, has announced the decision now to ensure a smooth transition to a new leadership in May.
However, contrary to an original statement, and pending the result of the 2019 election and his re-adoption as a candidate by the Conservative party, he has no plans to retire as a councillor.
His view on the role as leader is a pragmatic one.
“I feel that political leaders have a habit of outstaying their welcome and I do not plan to let that happen to me. I want to step down while I’m still at the very top of my game,” he said.
Mr Cowper continued: “The timing has always been on my mind ever since I agreed to stand for the leadership again in 2013. Together with my first term as leader, I am comfortably the longest-serving leader in the history of EHDC by some considerable margin.
“As a non-executive director working for small and medium-sized companies, I usually resigned the post after four years to make way for new and fresh thinking. In a job like this, long-serving leaders do not always benefit their communities because while longevity offers continuity, it is difficult to sustain mould-breaking iconoclasm year in and year out. At some point in time innovation fatigue sets in.
“This leads on to the common fate of so many political leaders who outstay their welcome. Unpopularity, just like innovation fatigue, can creep up on you so slowly that you don’t see it coming. Great leaders suffered this even in the modern era, from Churchill to Blair. For some, leadership is a drug they can’t kick, but for me it’s a privileged baton that needs to be handed on at exactly the right moment. In my opinion, this is the moment.”
Mr Cowper, who represents Grayshott, has used his background in the private sector to revolutionise the way in which EHDC carries out its business.
It has meant that the council generates income by selling its services and, through deputy leader Richard Millard, is building a property portfolio to achieve the best return for investment. Last month, it announced a 2.6 per cent cut in its share of council tax – the only local authority in England and Wales to cut tax rather than put it up – and plans to remove it altogether.
The council was still able to pledge the maintenance of front-line services and a £29m investment in its leisure centres in Alton, Petersfield, and Whitehill and Bordon. In another innovation, councillors have been given the power to target £4,500 per year to projects in their own communities.
Mr Cowper, who was behind cost-saving efficiency measures like sharing executive services with Havant Borough Council and refuse collection services with Winchester City Council, said: “I feel I have achieved an immense amount for the community across the board. EHDC is a record-breaking council with a radically innovative attitude to all services and business initiatives, not to mention the national exemplar regeneration project in Whitehill and Bordon.
“The council is in a good place. We have an exciting and difficult journey to fulfil our goals, but the engine of the council is well oiled and running smoothly. This is a good moment to hand over the driving.”
In a resignation statement, Mr Cowper praised staff and councillors for following him on the journey to a different way of doing things.
“Our council has moved on dramatically since 2013 when I resumed the leadership and, as I keep on saying, that is down to all of us. Nobody did it for us. Nobody else. Just us.
“I’ve laid out a vision of how a local council can be something very different from what is expected and thanks to the staff here at EHDC we are doing just that.
“Whatever role the members of the council may offer me after May 18, I know that I leave the council in the hands of one of the most capable, motivated and inspiring groups of people it’s ever been my pleasure to work with.”
While the original statement said his intention was to retire entirely from the council at the next election, Mr Cowper has since clarified the situation by telling The Herald that, in deference to the democratic process, he did not want to assume the backing of the party nor the ward but, he confirmed: “I have no plans to retire as a councillor.”
Fellow councillor Adam Carew, a former Lib Dem leader who walked the floor in 2013 to join the Tories, said: “Ferris is unique. He will be a very hard act to follow as leader but I have every confidence in his obvious chosen successor, Richard Millard, and that his shared vision for East Hampshire will continue to be driven forward and will be his lasting legacy.”