Former council leader suspended from party voted in as chair of major committee
A councillor suspended from the Conservative Party in May has been reinstated as chairman of Walsall Council’s planning committee.
Members voted in councillor Mike Bird over fellow candidate, councillor Waheed Rasab in a secret ballot.
The planning committee is an essential part of Walsall Council’s decisions making process and provides democratic and transparent decisions on proposals which affect the whole borough, and can sometimes be controversial.
Controversy is something which has earned former council leader Mike Bird popularity and backlash in equal measure during his time as an elected member.
In 2018 Bird issued an apology over remarks he made about the traveller community. He made the remarks live on BBC Radio WM’s phone-in show with Danny Kelly.
In 2020, councillor Bird made national headlines over claims he told poor families to shop at Marks & Spencer.
In response to the backlash, Bird said the remarks were taken out of context and that people had not listened to the full interview.
More recently, Councillor Bird handed in his resignation as leader of the council in May this year.
It followed a three month suspension by the national Conservative Party amid a disciplinary investigation and a 12-month ban on holding office or senior positions within the party.
Cllr Bird said he had been accused of racism but the investigation had cleared him of any allegations. Cllr Bird, who led the council three times since 2009, has since served as an independent councillor.
While the Conservative party’s reprimands did not affect his role within Walsall Council, he faced calls from fellow members – both Labour and Conservative – to stand down and eventually, he did.
At the time of the investigation, cllr Bird was chairman of the planning committee, alongside deputy chair, cllr Mark Statham.
In cllr Bird’s absence, cllr Statham chaired the committee but stepped down from the post last month. In a full council meeting this week, members voted in a majority for cllr Bird to be the chairman of the planning committee once again for the remainder of the municipal year.
