A NEW mayor has been appointed in Dursley for the first time in a decade.

Clare Nelmes has taken over from Jane Ball as the town’s mayor, as Cllr Ball stepped down from the role she has held for 10 years.

In her first major task Cllr Nelmes donned her new mayoral chains to chair Dursley’s annual town meeting at Dursley Community Centre on Tuesday evening.

Cllr Nelmes said she was looking forward to working as the town’s mayor and paid thanks to her predecessor, whom she previously served under as deputy.

“It’s been a great pleasure to serve as Jane’s deputy for all this time,” she said.

“I’ve learned an awful lot from her and she has made a huge commitment to this town.”

Cllr Ball had kind words for Cllr Nelmes in return, assuring the Gazette that Dursley was in safe hands.

She said: “Claire will do well as mayor – she is very very knowledgeable and brings a lot of experience from her work with a local authority.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the role. I have always been involved in the community and known a lot of people but being mayor gave me the opportunity to meet even more.

“We’ve managed to do so much over the past ten years.”

Special guest at the annual meeting was chief executive of South Western Ambulance Service Ken Wenman, who gave a talk on the ins and outs of running what is geographically the largest ambulance service in the country.

In addition to this there were reports from Dursley’s county councillor Steve Lydon and two of its district councillors, Doina Cornell and Geoff Wheeler.

Members of the public also had the opportunity to vote on the branding of Dursley’s neighbourhood plan, a strategic selection of areas for development, by choosing between two options.

It was announced that long-serving members of the council Tim Franco and Ronnie Harding would stand down and that four vacancies are now available.

The new deputy mayor for Dursley is Cllr Neil Grecian.

To see a full interview with Jane Ball as she reflects on her 10 years as Dursley’s mayor buy a copy of next Thursday’s edition of the Gazette.