TORY chiefs have lost patience with Silver Hill rebel Kim Gottlieb and are poised to remove him from the group.

Cllr Gottlieb has angered party colleagues by calling on Winchester City Council's chief executive to resign in the wake of Claer Lloyd-Jones' damning report on the scheme.

A motion to withdraw the whip will be considered at a Conservative group meeting tonight.

The Itchen Valley councillor has already taken his own administration to court and called for resignations over the council's unlawful handling of the city centre development.

He again called on chief executive Simon Eden to quit on Friday and has now said that corporate director Steve Tilbury should consider his position.

In the email sent to the chief executive, copied to councillors and seen by the Chronicle, Cllr Gottlieb said Mr Eden was behind efforts to secure and distribute legal advice which Ms Lloyd-Jones and High Court judge found "deeply flawed".

He said: "Rather than acknowledge its faults and respond accordingly, under your guidance the council has rejected these two independent and far reaching judgments.

"The reality, in my view, is that you were far more responsible for all of the council's actions, decisions and mistakes in this matter and, as such, your position as chief executive is no longer tenable."

He turned his fire on Mr Tilbury on Tuesday, telling the Chronicle: "I would have thought he should reflect on his position given how Silver Hill has ended up, how it's been managed and how that's been criticised."

The Conservative group considered kicking Cllr Gottlieb out a year ago when he last called for Mr Eden and Mr Tilbury to resign, alongside then-leader Rob Humby and deputy Vicki Weston.

The officials were unavailable for comment, but one cabinet member said: "It is unprofessional and disappointing that he has called for a resignation without any substantial basis for it.

"Last time he did so, calling for the resignations of Cllrs Humby and Weston, both were subsequently exonerated by the CLJ report.

"Kim should apologise and not cause further unnecessary damage."

Cllr Gottlieb would not be drawn on whether he would run as an independent in May's local elections should he be dropped by the Tories.

He said: "The idea of going independent has been suggested to me many times. I'm comfortable being a Conservative and that's how I would like to continue representing my constituents."

He added that his letter to Mr Eden was a "council matter, not a [Conservative] group matter".

Council leader Stephen Godfrey declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a new group of prominent council critics has announced plans to run in the elections under the name Winchester Independents.

Writing in this week's Chronicle, the group has invited residents to a meeting next month to orgnaise their campaign.

The last concerted challenge of independents ended in failure in 2002. Candidates backed by the Winchester Landscape Conservation Alliance, protesting proposed development in areas like St Cross and Morn Hill, ran in most city wards but picked up an average of 332 votes, or five per cent of ballots cast.

A separate campaign, Hold the Officers to Account (HOTA), has re-emerged with calls for "a more vigorous and challenging elected membership".

The group, led by Edward Fennell, has no plans to field candidates but will lobby those running on the issue of accountability.

Ms Lloyd-Jones' report found that the council lacked effective opposition or scrutiny, leading to officers feeling "obliged" to continue with the authority's original intentions.

One of HOTA's members, marketing executive and River Park campaigner Martin Wilson, was considering running for the council but has opted out for personal reasons.