Cllr Keith Warnell takes the wheel as Bishop's Stortford's new mayor for the third time
Bishop's Stortford's new mayor is a "safe pair of hands" having twice performed the role before.
Civic stalwart Cllr Keith Warnell was elected by fellow town councillors along with a deputy, Cllr Diane Hollebon.
He took over the reins from Cllr Norma Symonds in a socially distanced handover of the chain of office at the town council chamber in Windhill as colleagues watched online.
His term will officially run until next May but is likely to be extended for a further year, mirroring Cllr Symonds' extended tenure.
The leader of the town council, Cllr John Wyllie, said: "It's going to be an interesting time. Whether we'll have a semi-lockdown, or whether coronavirus will have passed us by, or whether we'll be in the same situation, Keith is a safe pair of hands."
Cllr Warnell said: "Thank you for your confidence in me. I'm a lad from a council house in east London and I'm honoured to be the first citizen.
"This is a great town but we have a lot of challenges because of the pandemic." He told councillors he would be championing town centre businesses and South Mill Arts – of which he is a trustee – as part of his role.
While fundraising may be curtailed because of Covid-19, he will be supporting the town's First Responders – "who are doing a brilliant job during the pandemic" – Bishop's Stortford VIP Club for blind and partially sighted people and Isabel Hospice, of which he is a trustee.
Cllr Warnell was born in Midsomer Norton in Somerset and grew up in London and then Harlow and Sawbridgeworth after he was adopted.
He and wife Lynda have been married for 49 years. They have two children, Carl and Lianne, two grandchildren and a great-grandson with another on the way.
Three years ago, Cllr Warnell found his birth family and discovered he also had three sisters and a host of nieces and nephews.
A former sales director and computer engineer, he still works part-time in retail display management alongside his duties as an elected member for the Stortford South ward.
He has been a town councillor since 1999 and has chaired each of the authority's committee during that time, including long stints in charge of planning. He steered creation of the town's second Neighbourhood Plan and is currently in charge of its revision. He previously served as mayor in 2001-02 and 2017-18, with three terms as deputy.
He lost his East Herts Council seat in the May 2019 local elections after serving since 2013 and is a former chairman of the authority.
In his free time he is a petrolhead, racing cars in a Sprint series in the South East, with 42 awards so far. He joked: "I also play golf badly. No awards!"
Cllr Warnell outlined his aims as he contemplated the next 18 months: "For the community, a return to normal times that we can all enjoy in our great town. To that end, I'll be working with the BID (Business Improvement District) in supporting retailers and South Mill Arts to try to promote them however I can.
"These are uncertain times where we have to be careful and must remain positive about the future. I'm encouraged by the opening of the new Roni's restaurant [in North Street] and that TK Maxx is coming to the town. These are positive moves showing that there's business confidence in our town.
"Council-wise, I'm looking forward to completion of the revisions to the Neighbourhood Plan, which will make it later than the district plan so we have more control over our future.
"With the move towards unitary authorities, I'm pushing for us to locally have legal decision-making powers over our planning applications rather than decisions being made remotely as they are now."