THE new leader of Burnley Council today admitted he was shocked and daunted after taking up the post.
Coun Gordon Birtwistle confessed he had not expected the shock election result which saw Labour lose control of the borough council to another party for the first time ever.
The former mayor, 62, said he was still pinching himself after taking over the running of the council in a coalition with the Conservatives.
Senior councillors thrashed out the deal after a week of tense meetings.
Labour lost five seats in the election, the number gained by the Liberal Democrats, putting both parties level on 16 seats.
Two years ago the council had been left with no leader for five weeks after the Liberals and Labour failed to form a coalition.
But this time the Liberals decided to make a bid to join up with the Conservatives who have five seats.
But Coun Birtwsitle, 62, said it was a position he had not expected to be in.
He added: "It is very daunting and it came as a bit of a shock to be honest because I didn't think we would do as well at the elections.
"But I'm here and I'm ready to take up the challenge and I hope the people will judge me on my results.
"Just like I did when I was mayor of the town I will do my best to raise the profile of the town throughout the country so that people can say they are proud to live in Burnley.
"The town has voted for change. The ship has been adrift now for about 40 years.
"It's going to take some time to get it on course again but I hope the people of the town will give us a chance to do that.
"Our main priority is to clean up the town, it's the biggest thing people complain about.
"We also want to speed up the regeneration programme. Houses have been demolished and they have just been left."
Coun Birtwistle, former owner of a Oswaldtwistle engineering company, is married with two children, one of whom, Justin, won the Bank Hall ward seat last week.
Coun Charlie Bullas is now deputy leader and executive member for the environment, Coun Roger Frost, member for leisure and culture, Coun Margaret Lishman, member for customer access and community engagement, Coun Martin Smith, member for regeneration and economic development and Coun Peter Doyle (Conservative leader), member for resources.
Coun Birtwistle added: "I'm also confident we have six of the top 10 councillors Burnley has to offer."
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