Council co-opts final councillor

This week, Cinderford Town Council co-opted their final councilor for the Cinderford East Ward. Bringing the council up to a full complement of 15 councillors. The Council unanimously voted to co-opt Rachel Lewis to the vacant seat in the East Ward.

The vacancy arose from the seat being uncontested at the last elections at the beginning of May. The vacancy was advertised in the local press and on social media. Five local residents applied for the place and were invited to speak with councilors at an extraordinary meeting at the Belle Vue Centre. Councillors then scored each candidate against a predefined councillor specification.

The calibre of all five candidates was very high and councillors expressed their desire to work with all the applicants in the future. Rachel Lewis scored highly against all criteria and impressed councillors with her presentation and interview.

Rachel is a project manager working for a global banking company. She has lived in Cinderford for nearly seven years.

Rachel said, “I feel very honoured to be joining Cinderford Town Council and cannot wait to see what we can achieve together. I feel very lucky to be given this opportunity and want to ensure I do all I can to help Cinderford be a vibrant, happy, thriving town that our future generations would be proud to live in.”

Chair of Council, Cllr Chris Witham said “Rachel brings a great deal of skills and experience to the council which I am sure will help us drive forwards some of our ambitious plans. Rachel is clearly keen to support and develop her local community and all the councillors are looking forward to working with her.”

Rachel’s first meeting as a councillor will be the Full Town Council meeting on Tuesday 11 June 2019.