THE NEW Mayor of Worcester has expressed his hope he will rid the High Street of rubbish outside the shop fronts and claimed it does the city ‘no favours’.
Popular councillor Roger Knight said he was delighted to be take over the chains of office, 11 years after he first elected to serve St Peter’s.
The 69-year-old Conservative won warm support from all parties at a council meeting last Tuesday (May 19) and said he hoped to leave a legacy for generations to come.
“It’s an honour I never thought I’d have when I joined this city council,” he told fellow councillors and guests.
The respected councillor chose Acorns Children’s Hospice as one of his chosen charities as well as Sight Concern and the Daisy Chain Benevolent Fund, a trust based in College Green.
All of his chosen causes are close to his heart but Coun Knight reserved a special mention for Sight Concern who offered his late father great support in his final years when he was virtually blind.
The former retail executive moved to Worcester from Surrey in 1991 with his wife and children after ‘thorough research on the best place to live’ according to Coun Robert Rowden who nominated for the role.
“He’s a man with real talent, and I don’t think those talents will be wasted as mayor,” Coun Rowden added.
Among his many ideas for the mayoral year is to promote the environment but also rid the city’s High Street of rubbish outside shop fronts of an evening.
“The amount of rubbish bags outside shops all day and night does nothing for our night-time economy or nothing for the day-time economy either,” he said.
A more contested vote saw Claines councillor Coun Mike Whitehouse elected Deputy Mayor despite Labour nominating Coun Jabba Riaz.
Fellow Cathedral councillor Lynne Denham proposed the former Conservative councillor for the honour and said Coun Riaz ‘embodied the best of British values’.
“Jabba Riaz would make an excellent ambassador for Worcester, support this year’s Mayor and respresent everything this city has to offer,” she said.
However Conservative deputy leader Coun Marc Bayliss proposed former Bishop Perowne pupil Coun Whitehouse for the role and was supported by the party and Green Party councillor Neil Laurenson.
