KINGSBRIDGE has a new mayor in Councillor Chris Povey so we thought we’d catch up with him and find out his plan for his term.

Chris, 44, owns Mangetout cafe on Fore Street and helped set up Hope Cove Gallery. He lives with his partner Sandra in Malborough.

He said he joined Kingsbridge Town Council because he ‘took quite a lot out of the town, I rely on it for income and enjoying time there, I wanted to give something back’. He said lots of people pass comment on the town and he wanted to ‘put his money where his mouth is’ and ‘get involved’.

When asked about being elected Mayor, he said: ‘When I joined the council I saw an opportunity, I know Wayne didn’t want another term and I saw that it was a really good council. The question was asked about whether anyone wanted the role, so I threw my name in the hat.

‘I have a good business and corporate background and I was proud to do it, I got the unanimous backing of the council, which was very sweet of them.

‘I see it as a very democratic role, everyone in the council pulls together, I have the title, but the job is shared with the council.’

Cllr Povey’s first ‘official engagement’ as Mayor of Kingsbridge was attending the memorial service for the Battle of Jutland on Thursday, May 30. He said: ‘I was very proud to represent the town there. Its a date that most people won’t know but Kingsbridge lost four young men that day.’

He is also looking forward to attending the Kingsbridge Food and Music Festival and Kingsbridge Fair Week.

Talking about his upcoming time as Mayor, he said: ‘I want to see what we can develop for the town, I want to accelerate the the positive changes that we have seen in the last few years. Wayne was a great mayor and its a great opportunity to deliver more for the town.

‘We have a specific and tight budget but the council can be an enabler for other people’s ideas. The Food and Music Festival, the little train that Steve Mammatt is organising, they have all grown out of people’s own ideas and as a council we can facilitate and support these ideas.

‘People working with the council, we are elected representatives for everyone, we can do some positive things together.’

Talking about the new development planned for the town, he said: ‘There will be a lot of changes in Kingsbridge in the next few years and we need to make sure they’re good changes, for the good of the town. Development done in the right way for the area.

‘We need the right type of housing, not only for people waiting to buy homes and start on the property ladder, but those at the top of the ladder who want to downsize. Where we’re allowing developers into the town, we need to make sure it will benefit the town.

‘The town council doesn't have the final say on planning but we can ask for a wish list - better sporting facilities, green spaces etc, when it comes to Section 106 agreements we need to be on the ball and not missing a trick.’

Cllr Povey also said he hoped to be able to improve people’s access to the estuary ‘not everyone can afford a mooring, and the slipway isn’t great, I want it to be accessible to everyone.’

He said there was ‘scope for more town events’ and for the existing events to ‘utilise existing venues around the town’.

He encouraged people to come to the council if they have ideas, ‘markets, events, come and talk to us. I want things driven by people not the council, ensuring everyone gets listened to. Kingsbridge is varied and vibrant, we need to support the young people and those in their retirement and everyone in between.’

He called Kingsbridge and the South Hams a ‘hugely entrepreneurial area’ and he would encourage ‘landlords to share space’ as there was a lack of appropriate spaces for start-up companies and that Kingsbridge was ‘perfectly positioned in the heart of the South Hams’.

He is also keen to build on the idea of Kingsbridge Town Council of building their own homes for local people. ‘The possibility for us to build homes that people can actually afford to buy is a huge opportunity. There is a need for truly affordable housing.’

Chris thanked everyone for the ‘tremendous support’ he has received from friends, family, customers as he takes up the role as Mayor of Kingsbridge and said it was ‘heartwarming’ to see people becoming interested in ‘politics with a small p’ and as a community to make ‘the most of what we’ve got’.