Former Plymouth City Council leader Richard Bingley is to step down as a councillor next year but said his decision has nothing to do with the row over Armada Way’s trees. Cllr Bingley said he decided not to fight for his Southway seat in 2024 when he found it difficult to carry out his council responsibilities alongside his day job working as a security expert.
Cllr Bingley said he has informed people in the Tory party and council of his decision. He told PlymouthLive: “I’m not running again. I’m just too busy.”
Cllr Bingley only moved to Plymouth, with his wife, in 2020 and was elected as Conservative member for Southway the following year. He became leader in 2022 and resigned almost exactly a year later, in March 2023, after the furore over the £12.7m regeneration of Armada Way.
He had come under increasing pressure after signing an executive decision to press ahead with the scheme, which led to 110 trees being chopped down at night and a subsequent legal battle with protesters. But he has insisted this was the right thing to do and that it would result in a regenerated city centre.
And he has stressed the Armada Way issue was not behind his decision to quit as a councillor. He said that work pressures were the sole reason and said: “I was back in my office full-time the day after resigning (as leader).”
Cllr Bingley said balancing full-time working with being council leader at the same time was “unsustainable”. He said: “Something had to give.”
He added: “As a councillor you have a day job and have to pay the mortgage and look after the family. It’s the same with me and I’m full-time back in my day job.”
Cllr Bingley graduated from the University of Plymouth in 1996 with a degree in government and politics. But unable to find employment in the city he left for London and worked in a series of private sector, public sector and Government jobs, including in press relations and security.
In 2012 he shifted into the higher education sector, teaching security risk management at Buckinghamshire New University. Cllr Bingley has also penned three books, on terrorism, the arms trade and management for security consultants.
He is currently working on his fourth book, entitled Preventing Cyber Terrorism. He said: “It’s coming out at the end of this year. At the moment I’m on deadline.”
Cllr Bingley, who will continue to chair the council’s growth and infrastructure overview and scrutiny committee until he leaves, said that during his brief time as a councillor and council leader there had been major successes. He pointed to establishing the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport, and approval of the outline devolution deal for Devon, including Plymouth, which could mean new powers and money.
He was also proud of helping steer through a £21m plan to create sports facilities at Brickfields, in Devonport, and the smooth running of Operation London Bridge, a 10-day programme of commemorations following the death of the Queen.
Cllr Bingley said the other major triumph during his time in charge was overcoming a huge funding shortfall and setting a balanced council budget for 2023/24. He said this involved closing a £37.6m gap in resources and said: “We did not shirk any difficult decisions.”
He added: “Maybe because we took some harsh decisions people decided to go for me. But we always ran the council in the public interest and responsibly.
“We did not go bankrupt. Labour and Conservative councils around the country have gone bust.”
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