An extraordinary meeting to scrutinise the role of Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis’ role at a PR company has been postponed.

The meeting, scheduled for June 4, was meant to publicly examine Coun Davis’ dual positions as both council leader and chief operating officer of Cratus Communications.

May 22: Kingston Council leader's PR role to be debated at extraordinary council meeting

He was expected to argue that his role as a shareholder with Cratus – which previously worked with major developers in Kingston - did not create a potential conflict of interest with his work as a councillor.

Councillor Ian George was also due to have his work as a senior account manager at PR company Thorncliffe, which specialises in planning, scrutinised.

But following the sudden death of Councillor Chrissie Hitchcock last week, the Lib Dems, who initially called the meeting, have decided to postpone it.

Liberal Democrat leader Liz Green said: “With regret we have decided to withdraw our request for an extraordinary meeting on June 4 to debate perceptions of conflicts of interest in planning decisions.

“We feel the meeting would be inappropriate and disrespectful following so closely after the sudden and sad death of Councillor Chrissie Hitchcock.

“We will continue to raise awareness of these issues that we know concerns many residents and we hope to have the debate in the autumn.”

Councillor Hitchcock served Kingston’s Grove ward for 25 years and died following a short illness on Monday, May 25.

She was one of the five Lib Dem signatories which called for the extraordinary meeting to be held.

A new date for the meeting is yet to be set.