Town mayor and deputy backed in Leominster

A meeting of Leominster Town Council last night confirmed that current deputy mayor Coun Trish Marsh will be the town’s new mayor.

Coun Marsh is also Leominster South ward councillor for the Green Party.

Fellow councillors also voted Coun Allan Williams to be deputy mayor. Coun Paul Davies was also proposed, but declined.

The two will be confirmed in their new roles at the annual town council meeting on May 23.

Before then, outgoing mayor Coun John Rumsey will give a report on the council’s activities over the last year to the annual town meeting, a separate event in the council chambers next Monday, April 4, at 7.30pm.

Town clerk Julie Debbage proposed that rents on the town’s 90 allotments, which cover five acres off Ginhall Lane to the west of the town, and for which there is a waiting list, would increase by 20 per cent from next year.

“There has been no increase for 10 years” on the current rates £100 a year for a full plot and £50 for a half, which she said is “about the same” as others in the county. The motion was passed.

Ms Debbage also said the Government’s £20,000 Welcome Back Fund awarded to the town “is nearly finished but we can still squeeze a bit more out” – namely on more copies of the town map and deck chairs for the Grange public park.

Meanwhile the asset transfer of the town’s Old Priory from Herefordshire Council to the town “is still with the solicitors”, and won’t be complete by the end of the financial year, she said.

Ward councillor Felicity Norman said Leominster Shopmobility, which provides mobility aids locally, “has funded itself for 27 years, but is now really struggling”.

Coun Clive Thomas said the charity’s shop in the town’s central car park “is currently closed because of the number of volunteers who have Covid”.

And with Ukrainian refugees due to arrive in the county shortly, Herefordshire Council “has already committed to unlimited numbers” of Syrian and Afghan refugees – “the challenge is finding the housing”, Coun Norman said.