New Mayor announces his arrival as Labour returns to power in new council

Stan Pajak with the new Mayoress Dawn Pajak after the Mayor making ceremony on 17 May.

Exciting year ahead as Mayor Stan takes over Stan Pajak looks forward to his year as Mayor of Swindon starting on 17 May

I first became a councillor way back in 1985 amid Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, the miners' strike and the rise of the SDP/Liberal Alliance as a political force. How times have changed!

My career in politics stemmed from community involvement on local issues and a love for the town I was born in. Becoming mayor of Swindon is a wonderful honour for both me and my family.

The classic image of a mayor as an elderly, large person all dressed in red with a nice set of chains has been radically changed in Swindon. My predecessor David Cox is both young(ish) and a marathon runner. His dynamic and fun year has set the trend and will be a very hard act to follow. The role of mayor is in main a ceremonial one of representing Swindon, meeting people, visiting schools, groups, organisations and charities, campaigning and attending the many wonderful events that happen in our town. This is matched by being the chair of the council meetings - with a politically balanced council this will be an interesting role.

The greatest asset of any town is its people and I will be introducing a Swindon Citizen Award scheme were people can be recognised for their community involvement. The six categories will be youth, good neighbour, carer in the community, environment, sport and charity. The awards will be presented before full council meetings and details of the scheme will be made available soon.

The groups I have selected from so many great causes to be the mayoršs charities for the year are Age Concern who campaign and give help to the elderly, Threshold Housing Link who provide accommodation for the homeless and the Skyline Appeal which is trying to raise £1.5 million to save Christ Church in Old Town.

The year ahead as mayor will have many highlights but among them will be the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations, Freedom of the Borough to the Wiltshire Yeomanry, possible linking with the city of Torun in Poland, the opening of the new Great Western Hospital, the Swindon 10K run and meeting ...you!

Council leadership swings back to Labour

Around seventy per cent of Swindon voters in the 19 seats taking part in the local elections on 2 May ignored the opportunity to express their democratic right; there is little change in the make up in the borough council.

Compared with the last local elections, response was higher by four per cent because of wider opportunities to cast votes, by post and telephone or via the internet, the first time voting has taken place outside the traditional polling station.

The result is that the council is still hung with no party in overall control: Labour has 29 seats, the Conservatives 22 and Liberal Democrats hold the ring with eight. Expectations that Labour would lose seats after it proposed a 15.5% rise in council tax in April were not realised. They lost Haydon Wick to the Conservatives after Kelvin King stepped down, but won Dorcan where Conservative cabinet lead member for education Gary Perkins was deposed.

The Conservatives' brief reign in power as a minority administration, after Labour stepped down following the disasterous Ofsted inspection report on the council's education department, has ended.

Neither of the main parties would share power with the Liberal Democrats and although the Conservatives won 15,520 votes at the elections against Labour's 13,700, they abstained from voting at the first council meeting of the year on 17 May and Labour took responsibility for the council cabinet.

Photo credits: Richard Wintle, Calx Multimedia Swindon