A COMMUNITY champion with a head for finance and a love of sport has been elected as the new mayor of West Devon.

Cllr Chris Edmonds (Con, Tamarside) otherwise known as “Mr Lifton” will take on the role of mayor from Cllr Paul Vachon (Ind, Okehampton South).

The councillor is West Devon Borough Council’s lead member for performance and resources, part of the decision making hub committee and chair of the regeneration and investment committee.

Cllr Alastair Cunningham (Ind, Buckland Monachorum) was elected as deputy mayor, a man who has a 100 per cent attendance record at meetings.

At the full council meeting, Mr Edmonds was described as having the energy and commitment to do the mayoral role plus “dedication, integrity and a genuine desire to support residents” and an understanding of the borough’s rural communities.

A former banker born in Exbourne near Okehampton, Cllr Edmonds and his wife Jan moved to Lifton in 1979. He is chairman of Lifton Parish Council and sees his role as president of Lifton Flower Show as his most important job up to this point.

He told the meeting that Lifton was not only the place he lived but the place that grounded him.

He said he was following in a family tradition as his wife’s great uncle Fred Dennis and brother Dennis Bater were former chairman and mayor of West Devon respectively.

He vowed to reach “every corner of the borough” during his mayoral year.

Cllr Mandy Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West) will continue as leader of the council for the fourth year and is expected to remain at the helm to see West Devon out as a local authority – in 2028 district and borough councils in Devon will be abolished and new larger unitary councils will take their place.