New mayor and deputy elected by town council

The appointments were made at the online meeting last Wednesday, when Coun Robert Oates was elected as chairman of Sleaford Town Council and Mayor of Sleaford, replacing coun Anthony Brand as outgoing mayor.

Lincolnshire Independent Councillor Oates was elected to the council in May 2019 to represent Holdingham Ward. In 2020, he was elected deputy mayor and vice-chairman of the council.

In his working life, Coun Oates was previously the executive director of an environmental charity and before that worked in government service in Whitehall.

As mayor, his consort will be his wife, Ann.

Coun Oates commented: “I am honoured to be Mayor of Sleaford for this year and thank my fellow councillors for electing me. I will do my very best in the role.

“One of my priorities for this year will be to deliver the first-ever Neighbourhood Plan for Sleaford, which will outline how the town should develop and will bring us more funding.”

Labour Councillor Linda Edwards-Shea was elected as vice-chairman and deputy mayor.

Coun Edwards-Shea was first elected to the authority in a by-election in March 2018 and represents Castle Ward. She grew up in Sleaford and attended Kesteven and Sleaford High School.

Honoured to have been selected she thanked colleagues she looked forward to working with the mayor and fellow councillors in the coming year.