A NEW mayor and deputy mayor of Andover have been elected by the Andover Town Council.

Cllr David Coole (independent, Romans ward) has been elected the mayor, and Cllr Rebecca Meyer (independent, Winton ward) elected the deputy mayor.

In a full council meeting on Wednesday (May 11), Cllr Coole was elected after getting eight votes, while previous mayor Cllr Barbara Long got four votes.

Cllr Meyer won the deputy mayor election after getting five votes from the full council. Cllr Robin Hughes got four votes and Cllr Stu Waue received three votes.

Cllr Coole’s election comes after he controversially reported the town council to financial auditors within both ATC and TVBC following the setting of the budget for 2022-23.

His complaint was on the grounds that he accused the council of “failing to approve a balanced budget, for false accounting and for serious mismanagement of its financial reserves and its balanced budget setting process”.

SEE ALSO: Andover Town Council reported to auditors for ‘financial mismanagement’

An alternative budget had been proposed by Cllr Coole, which he claimed would not only be “balanced”, but also reduce spending, allowing the precept to be reduced by more than £4 for a Band D household.

However, an internal audit into the financial management of Andover Town Council revealed that there was ‘no breach’ of regulations in the budget setting process for 2022-23.

Later, Cllr Coole said that auditor’s report “failed miserably” in addressing his concerns and described it as “another waste of taxpayers’ money”.

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