WEst Devon borough’s new mayor says she is looking forward to taking on the ceremonial role for the first time.

Lynn Daniel, Green councillor for South Tawton ward, was re-elected as a councillor for another four years in the elections on May 4. She was then unanimously chosen as mayor by her peers at first full council of the borough last Tuesday (May 30).

Cllr Daniel said: ‘I’m really happy that they have chosen me. It was a bit unexpected but I feel very honoured. I am very much looking foward to meeting people, finding out what they are doing and listening and talking to people because I think it is a really important part of the role.

‘I will still be representing my ward and still be working hard to try and save the shop and post office in South Zeal and to establish the cycleway [between Sticklepath and Okehampton].

‘People can invite me to their celebrations, whatever they might be. I willl be very pleased to come along in my role as mayor. So far I have been invited to the carnival in Tavistock and to Tavistock College, I’m going to one of their events, I really want to support younger people. I haven’t been invited along to Okehampton College yet, but I’d be happy to go along.

‘Being mayor is also about representing West Devon as a whole and really to promote West Devon as the beautiful place it is and try and encourage businesses to come here and enhance the prospects for people, particularly Green businesses.’

Lynn, who lives in Sticklepath, knows the borough very well indeed, having been a social worker in both Tavistock and Okehampton for 20 years. She stood for election as a councillor on WDBC in 2019, just a few months after she retired from her job. As leader of the Green group of councillors on West Devon Borough Council, currently numbering four councillors (with by-elections this month for a seat in Tavistock North and two seats in Burrator), Cllr Daniel also has a role in the council chamber.

She said: ‘We want to make sure that whatever decisions we make we include consideration of the impact on the environment and the climate. Obviously we want to work together as a council. I think it is a harmonious council by and large. We do have disagreements, but we do come to a consensus and we are quite a good-natured council.’

She says she wants to promote projects encouraging wild spaces. ‘We have such a rich biodiversity in West Devon and we want to keep it. That is why I chose the Devon Wildlife Trust as my charity because I think they do a really important job in that regard.’

Another priority for her is affordable housing. ‘Particularly in my ward, there is such a lack of affordable housing. We have to make sure we have got more homes people can afford that are good to live in, built to a high standard.’