COUNCILLOR David Dadds has been elected Mayor of Basildon with Cllr Luke MacKenzie as Deputy Mayor.

His appointment was confirmed at the council's annual meeting, when Cllr Andrew Baggott was also voted in as new Leader of the council and new Conservatiove administration.

Cllr Anthony Hedley was elected Deputy Leader on a night that also saw a realignment of council committees to support council priorities.

Following the meeting Cllr Baggott said: "I believe that listening to our residents and their ideas is key to delivering the services and projects that our borough deserves and needs.

"The changes to our committees will support us in doing just that and we now have a Scrutiny Committee to keep us all on track to deliver what we have promised to people across the borough."

The full list of committees and their Chairmen is:

Service committees

Cllr Andrew Baggott – Chairman of Policy Executive Committee

Cllr Stuart Sullivan – Chairman of Resources & Commercial Committee

Cllr Andrew Baggott – Chairman of Enforcement and Public Protection Committee

Cllr Andrew Schrader – Chairman of Housing & Estate Renewal Committee

Cllr Terri Sargent – Chairman of Communities & Wellbeing Committee

Cllr Anthony Hedley – Chairman of Regeneration & Economic Development Committee

Cllr Craig Rimmer – Chairman of Leisure & Environment Committee

Cllr Richard Moore – Chairman of Strategic Planning & Infrastructure Committee

Statutory committees

Cllr Gary Canham – Chairman of Audit & Risk Committee

Cllr Danny Lawrence – Chairman of Licensing Committee

Cllr Carole Morris – Chairman of Planning Committee

Cllr George Jeffery – Chairman of Joint Standards Committee

Cllr Luke MacKenzie – Chairman of Scrutiny Committee