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Ashington Town Council members have voted to appoint John Tully as leader after the previous head had to step back due to ill health.

He takes over as the council’s leader from Cllr Matthew Cuthbert, after leading the budget process in his absence.

Cllr Tully said: “I am pleased with the confidence that my fellow councillors have put in me.

“I have been on the town council for two years, and there are things I thought needed to be brought forward and prioritised.

Cllr Cuthbert (top left) resigned as leader due to ill health, and now Cllr Tully (bottom left) has taken over.

“I was able to do that in the budget process.”

Cllr Tully paid tribute to his predecessor. He said: “At the council meeting, I congratulated him and thanked him very much for the time and work that he put in.

“Obviously I learned a lot from him. He was a very able leader, but your health comes first.

“Hopefully his health will recover and he will continue to take active part in council business.”

Since taking over as leader, Cllr Tully has already outlined four priorities for the town council to focus its limited powers and resources on going forward.

He wants to concentrate on, in no particular order, keeping the town clean, urgent action on the effects of climate change, community support via events and grant funding, and making Ashington a safe and pleasant place to live.

He said: “We did not, as a council before I became leader, provide any priorities, and I thought it was essential that we did.

“Over the next year I hope to bring in a strategy and a plan for the council, a five-year medium term one and long term one for ten years.

“We hope to be working on that for the next 12 months.

“I am not saying that is an exhaustive list of priorities. Obviously other ones may come up depending on circumstances, but they are the four main ones we have identified at the moment.

“Once you have identified your priorities the big thing is to put resources in there, and we have done that through the budget process.”

Action towards these priorities, such as forming a dedicated climate change committee and creating a working group to negotiate the next contract for enhancing county council services, has already begun.

New leader of Ashington Town Council outlines priorities after being voted in