IT has been just over a month since Chard Town Council elected me as Mayor. This is a massive privilege and honour for me to serve our town as I have been a councillor for over 16 years.

One of the key responsibilities of being Mayor is to be chairman of the town council. This role involves being totally neutral when the council considers its business once every two months.

As one of 15 councillors I have always felt that the most important aspect of serving our town is putting the people first.

The people of Chard are the bedrock of our community in which everybody plays a part contributing towards the wellbeing of each and every one of us.

I sincerely believe this because there are so many volunteer groups and organisations working hard generating interest and enabling delivery of a vast variety of activities.

It is therefore vitally important that volunteers have the freedom to undertake these respective roles without being hindered by too many constraints such as regulation. Anybody who knows me knows that one of my key principles is keeping the process of delivering a positive outcome as simple as possible.

However it should also be considered that such freedom must not have an adverse affect on other people. I believe that a balance can be achieved if we all work in a collaborative approach. It is only the start of my term as Mayor and already I have had the pleasure of attending a number of events, I am now looking forward to doing much more in the coming months.

Best wishes to you all.

Cllr Dave Bulmer