THE new mayor of Oswestry for 2022/23 has been elected by councillors ­– but not before the current incumbent aimed a parting shot at his deputy.

Councillor Jay Moore was named mayor-elect at the town council's finance and general purposes committee on Wednesday (March 23) night, though did not receive a unanimous vote.

This was because current mayor Cllr Mark Jones spoke out against the appointment of his deputy for 2021/22 and furthermore, accused Cllr Moore of 'unimpressive behaviour' throughout his civic year.

He said: "I’ve not been impressed with Jay Moore throughout the year.

"He is constantly making comments on Facebook, and he is on it even during meetings which I am not impressed with.

"And he called my reputation into account when he said I didn’t vote for the White Ribbon status when it is a matter of record that I did.

"I’ve also since done a lot of work with the White Ribbon, so that wasn’t very impressive.

"Although standing orders say we have to vote for Cllr Moore, I won’t be doing that."

Cllr Moore was elected to serve from May 11 for 12 months and will be the youngest person appointed to the role of mayor at the age of 38.

He admitted he was delighted to be selected and promised to put a modern angle on the traditional role.

He said: “It was never my goal to be a councillor, so to find myself in line to become the next mayor of our town was a surprise to say the least.

"I will be the first mayor under the age of 40 in several hundred years, and I would guess likely the first ever fire-breather, drummer, and pro-wrestler to boot.

"It is my goal to be a modern-day mayor, to get some fundraising done and have a blast doing it.

"Exciting times are ahead, and I can’t wait to meet as many people as possible while out in town performing my civic duties.”

READ MORE:

Cllr Moore, who lives in Oswestry with his partner Poppy and son Alfie, will put youth at the forefront of his efforts.

He added: "This is what really lead me to where I find myself now.

"Following cuts to funding I decided to pursue a role in politics, with a hope to make a change to the repeated cuts that were dismantling youth work in the area.

"I was successful in my campaign and became an Oswestry town councillor for the first time in 2017.

"In my first term I was the driving force behind pushing for improvements to funding for our young people, and we managed to secure an annual budget of more than £30,000 solely for that purpose.

"It was my first taste of seeing some real positive change come from my new role, and ever since I’ve been working towards bringing new amenities and services to our town."

The deputy mayor elect for 2022/23 will be Cllr Olly Rose.