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IT could be a long night in Wareham as divided Purbeck District Council thrashes out a power agreement.

Following the May elections, the authority now has 11 Conservatives, 11 Liberal Democrats and two Independent members, ending nine years of Tory control.

The Independents - Cllr Peter Wharf and Cllr Nigel Dragon - offered to lead a "rainbow alliance" of all three parties, but the Lib Dems have declined and the Conservatives say they still plan to be the predominant party.

Lib-Dem leader Cllr David Budd said: "Such a cross party coalition was likely to lack strong united leadership and direction.

"It would be inherently unstable and unlikely to last.

"The loss of a clear opposition role to challenge the decisions of the council and its executive risked the council becoming complacent and out of touch with those it represents and was not in the best interest of the council."

He said that the electorate had voted for change and his party would be putting forward nominations for the main positions on the council at Thursday's meeting.

Cllr Wharf said he was disappointed that a three-way coalition was not possible.

"There would have been strong leadership, we had the basis of a programme that had been agreed by both parties.

"If we had an agreed programme we would have had a strong council," he said.

Cllr Gary Suttle, a candidate to become leader of the Conservative group on the council, said his party had been talking to the Independents but had yet to reach and agreement.

"It certainly will not be the rainbow alliance, it will be an alliance of like-minded people.

"We're still hoping to form an administration that is predominantly Conservative controlled," he said.

7:00pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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