Issued: 23 May 2024

South Hams District Council has announced its new chairman for the next 12 months at this year’s Annual Council meeting on 23 May.

Cllr Bernard Taylor, ward member for Charterlands, will be the chairman for the coming year. Cllr Taylor accepted the chain of office from the outgoing chairman, Cllr Guy Pannell. Cllr Pannell, ward member for South Brent, was appointed as vice-chairman of the council.

Cllr Taylor said: “I would like to thank our leader Julian Brazil and all of our members for having faith in me to represent the council for the next 12 months. I hope that I can do this honorary role justice on behalf of the council.

“We have some work to do as a team. Most important of all is to build affordable housing, which I believe should be top of our spending list. Not forgetting climate change and biodiversity of course, which is very important.

“Cllr Pannell has been an excellent chairman, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside him. I hope that I can have a year as chairman as successful as his.”

The following committee positions were also confirmed during the Council meeting.

Executive

• Cllr Julian Brazil – Leader
• Cllr Dan Thomas – Deputy Leader
• Cllr John McKay
• Cllr John Birch
• Cllr Denise O’Callaghan
• Cllr Victor Abbott
• Cllr Jacqui Hodgson
• Cllr Nicky Hopwood
• Cllr Nadine Dommett

Audit and Governance Committee

• Cllr Lee Bonham – Chairman
• Cllr Alison Nix – Vice Chairman

Development Management Committee

• Cllr Mark Long – Chairman
• Cllr Bernard Taylor – Vice Chairman

Licensing Committee

• Cllr Simon Rake – Chairman
• Cllr Sam Penfold – Vice Chairman

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

• Cllr Jonathan Hawkins – Chairman
• Cllr Ben Cooper – Vice Chairman

Council Tax Setting Committee

• Cllr Julian Brazil - Chairman

To watch the Annual Council as it happened and to see all the appointments made during this meeting, go to our YouTube page.