Bury’s next council leader has revealed his battleplan for the next 12 months — while the election result proved the final straw for the current leader Bob Bibby.

Cllr Bibby was expected to resign today and a successor for party leader voted in at the Bury Conservatives’ annual meeting tonight.

After the amazing election turnaround which saw Labour take overall control of the council, Labour leader Cllr Mike Connolly unveiled his Cabinet and spoke of his priorities for the next 12 months.

“The election night was dramatic and historical, but it is over now and it’s time for us to get down to business,” he said.

The borough’s six local area partnerships — including one covering Prestwich and one covering Whitefield and Unsworth — will be reintroduced.

Labour will scrap the council’s strong leader model whereby councillors can make vital decisions without meeting colleagues or residents. The Executive will be reintroduced.

Eight Labour councillors will meet monthly at the town hall with the two opposition leaders to vote on important issues. All 10 councillors will have voting rights. At Executive and Full Council, residents will be able to ask questions without asking for permission three days in advance, like now.

The three scrutiny panels will remain, but Labour has ordered a full review of the scrutiny system with the intention of introducing a new system next April.

Cllr Connolly said: “We also have a number of priority issues we would like to address, though we need to balance a wide range of demands.”

Among those priorities are the future of the youth service and youth centres, such as the threatened Phoenix Centre in St Mary’s Park, Prestwich.

The management of the borough’s four civic suites is another priority, Cllr Connolly said.

He has pledged to “keep a close eye” on the Longfield Suite in Prestwich and has already agreed to oust a private management firm in charge of Radcliffe Civic Suite, so the council will manage it as soon as practically possible. The borough’s libraries and charging on council-owned car parks, like the Fairfax Road car park in Prestwich, are other priorities.

In the Cabinet will be councillors Trevor Holt, Tony Isherwood, Rishi Shori, Nick Parnell, Sandra Walmsley and Jane Lewis.