New mayor ‘honoured’ to take up role his father turned down

Oswestry’s new mayor has pledged to make the next 12 months the “year of businesses”.

Councillor Mark Jones was elected to the role at the annual town council meeting and mayor making ceremony on Wednesday evening, having spent the last year as deputy mayor to Duncan Kerr.

Councillor Jones put on the chain of office at a socially-distanced ceremony at Eastern Oswestry Community Centre, attended by his wife Ruth, who will serve as mayoress, son Jacob, and other family members.

Councillor Jones said it was an “honour” to take up the role which his father had once turned down – adding that his late mother would have loved the chance to be mayoress.

Proposing Councillor Jones as mayor for 2021/22, Councillor John Price said: “Mark has been a town councillor since 2015 and has been elected twice by the people of Oswestry.

“He can be a man of few words but these words are always considered and always have been in the best interests of the people of Oswestry.

“He has a strong moral conviction, he is proud of his farming heritage and is a proud family man.

“He is an Oswestry lad and I have no doubt he will be an outstanding mayor, and represent this town with respect, courage and conviction.”

Seconding the proposal, Councillor Paul Milner added: “The town of Oswestry is in his DNA.”

Councillor Jones said: “I love Oswestry and I think we have a special town.

“I sometimes get offended when people say it isn’t a great town – I think we need to keep adapting, but whole scale changes are not needed. They, as other towns not too far away have demonstrated, risk losing our beating heart.”

Councillor Jones was born in Gobowen and now lives in Whittington. He works for an insurance company, is a father of four grown-up children, and also represents Gobowen, Selattyn and Weston Rhyn on Shropshire Council.

Councillor Jones has appointed Revd Suzanne Williams of St John’s Church in Whittington as his chaplain for the year.

His chosen charities are Oswestry Talking Newspaper, in memory of his mother who used the service in her later life, and the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation which raises money for Motor Neuron Disease (MND) research.

Councillor Jones welcomed the new councillors elected earlier this month, and paid tribute to the nine previous councillors who stepped down or were not re-elected.

Looking to the year ahead, Councillor Jones said: “This a new start and new council.

“We cannot ignore the fact that we have had the election but it is important that we work together to represent the community that we serve – we can do this through our council businesses, putting the interests of our people first and working together with mutual trust and respect in and outside the council chamber.

“We are the council, we are its stewards and responsible for its reputation.

“As a new council I am sure we will have bold ambitious plans for our town.

“Financially we are in a strong position, we have good partnerships in place with the BID and Shropshire Council and work well with groups in our community.

“It’s an important year for the town as we bounce back from the Covid pandemic.

“The town has done better than most. We have many strong independent traders and we have seen investment continue in our town.

“I intend to champion our local businesses during my year and try and draw in good business brains to help generate sustainable income for the council.

“I hope that I will be able to attend the flagship council events such as the food festival, Christmas Music Live and the balloon carnival – these free family focussed events are good for the town. We have a reputation for these events – perhaps we could see them grow.

“As a proud Oswestry lad, with strong personal and professional connection to the town I will make sure that I celebrate what Oswestry is, its proud heritage as a welsh border market town – perhaps at times we’ve forgotten that – it’s a strong brand, it values our hinterland and builds loyalty and pride.”

As deputy mayor elect Steve Mason lost his seat in the local elections, Councillor Jay Moore was elected to the role of deputy. He will become mayor next year.