THE new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole shadow authority will meet for the first time on Wednesday evening, beginning its year’s work to bring about local government reorganisation.

Formed to manage the transition from individual councils to one unitary authority, the overwhelmingly Conservative shadow authority will be made up of 120 members of the three borough councils and will exist until the unitary authority takes over in April.

Only 18 councillors on the authority are from groups other than the joint Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Conservative group.

The party will have a big say in the way the local government reorganisation process is managed with the newly-appointed leader, Bournemouth councillor Nicola Greene, and deputy, Christchurch’s Trish Jamieson, representing the shadow authority group.

It is believed that Conservative members from Borough of Poole and Christchurch planned to issue an immediate vote of no confidence if Bournemouth leader John Beesley, who is under police investigation, had been put forward as group leader during a meeting last week.

Unusually, the leader of the majority group will not automatically become the chairman of the shadow authority and that decision is one of the first on tomorrow’s agenda.

Poole council leader Janet Walton has been put forward by Conservative Party headquarters as a candidate for the role, as a way to ensure all three areas have prominent roles following the group appointments.

However, the Daily Echo also understands from town hall sources that the controversial former leader of Christchurch council, Ray Nottage, is the favoured candidate of councillors Walton and Beesley.

Cllr Nottage declined to comment and said he would be happy to speak after tomorrow evening’s meeting.

His appointment would likely cause much ire among the majority of the authority’s Christchurch members with his backing of local government reorganisation going against the borough’s overall position.

Cllr Nottage was ousted from his position at the beginning of last year following a private meeting between Christchurch council’s Conservative members.

He had taken part in initial work, alongside the leaders of Bournemouth, John Beesley, and Poole, Janet Walton, councils, to set the merger’s wheels in motion and has since been side-lined at borough level.

Despite Christchurch council launching a legal challenge in a bid to halt its merger with neighbouring Poole and Bournemouth, its representatives on the shadow authority are due to attend Wednesday’s meeting with its legal representatives believing that their attendance would not impact on the judicial review.