Leader of council group quits to become “purely independent” councillor

The leader of one of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s two rival groups of independents has quit to go “purely independent”.

Cllr Karen Walker at Peasedown Community Library in 2024 | Photo provided

Karen Walker (Peasedown) was one of two Independent councillors who left the council’s Independent Group to form Independents for B&NES in April last year. Now she has left that group to become an unaligned councillor.

Councillor Walker told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Following discussions with residents and community groups in my ward over the last couple of months, I’ve concluded that I can best represent them as an independent councillor unaligned from any group or party.

“Being purely independent gives me the complete freedom to always campaign for, and vote, for what matters most to my residents. It means I can always put them first.”

She said: “I’ve had the huge privilege to serve as an independent councillor in Peasedown St John since I was first elected in 2015.

“Being an independent means I can truly put the needs of my residents first, free from party politics, and free from having to toe any group line or whip.”

Independent councillors often join together to form a group on a council in order to secure funding and spots on committees, which are decided based on political proportionality.

Unusually, Bath & North East Somerset Council has two rival groups of independent councillors.

Councillor Walker and fellow Peasedown Independent Gavin Heathcote split from the original “Independent Group” in April 2025 in order to form “Independents for B&NES” with independent Chris Warren, after he won the Saltford by-election.

Former councillor Nathan Hartley, who had been doing PR for the two Peasedown councillors, had run Councillor Warren’s campaign.

Other councillors in the Independent Group had declined to let Chris Warren join the group due to a “lack of clarity” about whether he ran an account on X (formerly Twitter) which had targeted the local council, politicians, and minorities with offensive posts.

Councillor Warren has said he is not behind the account and the tweets did not reflect his views, although he found some of them funny.

Councillor Warren and Councillor Heathcote remain members of Independents for B&NES, with Councillor Heathcote leader of the group of two. Councillor Walker now appears without Councillor Heathcote in press releases about her work as a Peasedown councillor.

There are now three unaligned councillors not part of any political group on the council. Grant Johnson (Paulton) quit Labour in January over the party’s “constant U-turns” under Keir Starmer.

He stressed his decision was not a reflection on the council’s Labour group, who he called a “great bunch of councillors”.

Bharat Pankhania (Combe Down) left the Liberal Democrats and stepped down as the ceremonial Mayor of Bath after reposting a post on X which called an arson attack on ambulances run by a Jewish charity an “Israeli false flag”, which he has apologised for and called a mistake.

He announced last month that he would resign as a councillor, although he currently remains one.

The Independent Group has five members, with Alan Hale and Ann Morgan having joined the group after leaving the Conservative Group and Liberal Democrats respectively.

The council is still dominated by the Liberal Democrats, who have 38 councillors. Labour are the official opposition with six councillors, the Green Party have three, and the Conservatives have two.

John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter