The newly elected members of Brighton and Hove City Council have taken their seats this afternoon.
The new councillors met for the first time at Hove Town Hall for the council’s annual meeting.
The meeting came shortly after the council awarded the freedom of Brighton and Hove to Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi and heroic Hove pilot Flight Lieutenant Marc Heal.
The annual meeting elected Bevendean-born Councillor Anne Meadows as the new Mayor of Brighton and Hove.
Councillor Meadows said: “It is such a privilege to be elected as Mayor and an absolute honour to serve the city I love in such a special way.”
The new mayor, who represents Moulsecoomb and Bevendean for Labour, nominated the Sussex Beacon, Brighton and Hove Federation of the Disabled and the PDSA as her mayoral charities.
Outgoing mayor Councillor Geoff Wells becomes the new deputy mayor in place of Councillor Ann Norman.
Councillor Wells reeled off a list of the highlights of his year in office. And among the incidents, he admitted once collecting his shoes after they had been repaired while still wearing his mayoral chain.
The shopkeeper insisted on taking a photo, he said, and now displays the picture with the caption: “Cobblers to the mayor.”
The meeting also appointed Councillor Bill Randall – convenor of the Brighton and Hove Greens – as the new leader of the council.
It appointed chairmen and members for the planning, licensing and scrutiny committees.
Among the committee members, libraries campaigner Councillor Chris Hawtree takes up a seat on the Culture, Tourism and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee,
And Councillor Jason Kitcat becomes a member of the Standards Committee. After posting clips of a council meeting on You Tube, he was censured by the committee under the same chairman, Dr Michael Wilkinson, but cleared by a tribunal.
And for the first time today, the Conservative and Labour councillors sat together on the same side of the chamber, with the Labour members wearing red roses.
Anne has done so much for this community she takes the time to really care and do as much as she can for people living in the area. She will make a great mayor and its really well deserved