THE New Mayor of Presteigne and Norton James Tennant-Eyles accepted the chain of office on May 18 for the coming year from outgoing Mayor Colin Kirkby. Before handing over the chain of office Colin said "As always this has been another busy year for the town council and the amount of work expected from us seems to rise each year including having several extra meetings to deal with planning issues.

This year has been dominated by the problems caused by government cutbacks on local authority speeding and a poor settlement from the Welsh government for Powys County Council which is leading to further cutbacks affecting many of the services delivered in our small community. The cemetery, Judge's Lodging, Day Centre, Youth Provision, and latterly the library and all under serious pressure through these cuts." Colin continued by updating everyone on work being done and other projects, he thanked the councillors for their support and said a special thank you to the town clerk Tracey Price for all the hard work she continues to do year after year. He presented her with a bouquet of flowers and then after a unanimous vote by town councillors, James Tennant Eyles was elected the new mayor.

James said he was delighted to be taking over at such an important time for the town. During the coming year he hoped that there would be satisfactory negotiations with Powys County Council for the takeover of an number of important assets in the Presteigne, thus securing the future of vital services in community such as the Youth Club, the library, community support, the public toilets and the cemetery.

He added that an important theme of his year as mayor would be to address the issue of poor communication between the town and the town council. He said he believed this was a matter of perception only as the council already provides a full range of information about its activities on the town website, it puts printed information in the library, it runs a town council Facebook page and it offers monthly surgeries at the farmers market. In hopes of further improving communication the mayor or the deputy mayor will attend all surgeries this year, there will be more frequent press releases, and the council will work with the newly constituted Presteigne Area Community Development Group who will help the town council inform and consult the community on a range of important issues.