THE ruling Tory group on Wycombe District Council have chosen Cllr Roger Colomb as their new leader.

He beat Cllr Chris Oliver in an election on Tuesday and will take over officially in May.

Cllr Colomb, 67, member for Green Hill and Totteridge since 1995, will lead Wycombe District Council into cabinet-style government in May.

He will succeed the present leader Pam Priestley, who said when the Tories won control in 1999 that she would do the job for two years.

Cllr Priestley and Cllr Colomb will work together until then to get modernisation of the council up and running, putting into place changes demanded by the Government, but not much welcomed by the council.

Instead of the old committee structure Cllr Colomb will pick a cabinet of seven other Tory councillors, one of whom will be his deputy. The others have specific responsibilities, such as housing or leisure.

The idea is that the cabinet will make decisions more quickly.

Backbench members will be able to keep an eye on the cabinet, via three scrutiny committees, one of which will be chaired by an opposition councillor.

Cllr Colomb hopes the public will find the whole thing a bit more interesting. People will be allowed to attend cabinet meetings and speak in meetings of the full council.

Cllr Priestley said both candidates for the top job were excellent. She said Cllr Colomb would devote his time to the job and bring in fresh ideas, adding: "I have every confidence in him."

Cllr Colomb, from Penn, has lived in the district since 1974. He and his wife Jean have two grown-up children. He worked for Texaco for 34 years.

He said about his new job: "I shall try to see that the council is objective and spends its time and money delivering the services that are wanted."

He thinks the new system will be better than endless meetings that soak up money but don't always deliver to the taxpayer.

"This is a total change in approach to what we have been used to. It will deliver more for the taxpayers' money," said Cllr Colomb.

He said the council was determined that the new system wouldn't cost taxpayers a penny more.

Plans for the new structure still have to go to two committees and the full council before they are final.