A NEW chairman has been chosen as the civic figurehead of Sedgemoor District Council for the coming year.

Cllr Ian Dyer is the new chairman taking over the role from Cllr Peter Downing and the vice-chairman for 2015/16 is Cllr Mike Cresswell.

Sedgemoor District Council held its first full council meeting since the elections took place on Wednesday, with appointments to the executive and various committees also announced.

Following the elections, the make-up of Sedgemoor District Council is:- Conservative – 35, Labour – 10, Lib Dem – 1, UKIP – 2.

Executive members elected: Leader – Cllr Duncan McGinty; Deputy Leader – Cllr Dawn Hill; Community and Scrutiny – Cllr Gill Slocombe; Corporate and Scrutiny – Cllr Ann Bown; Economic Strategy – Cllr Anne Fraser; Environment – Cllr Peter Downing; Housing – Cllr Andrew Gilling; Planning/Policy – Cllr Mike Caswell.

The leaders and deputies of the council committees were also announced.

Audit and Governance: chairman – Cllr Julie Pay; vice-chairman – Cllr Michael Clarke. Community Scrutiny: chairman – Cllr Kathy Pearce; vice-chairman – Cllr Alan Bradford. Corporate Scrutiny: chairman – Cllr Brian Smedley; vice-chairman – Cllr Mark Healey. Development: chairman – Cllr Bob Filmer; vice-chairman – Cllr Tony Grimes. Licensing and General Purposes: chairman – Cllr Jeff Savage; vice-chairman – Cllr Derek Alder. Standards: Chairman – Cllr John Woodman; vicechairman – Cllr Alison Hamlin.