Mayor breaks silence as inaugural speech released

A week on Wrexham has finally found out what our new Mayor said at his inaugural meeting, with a copy of his speech released by the local authority.

On Tuesday the 24th Cllr Brian Cameron was formally elected Mayor of Wrexham however amid shambolic scenes no one outside the chamber knew what he said – as we reported here.

We are told the lack of audio was not due to technical issues, rather those at the meeting were not pressing the buttons to turn mics on and off correctly despite being ‘fully briefed’ and some kind of ‘rehearsal’ taking place. The meeting the following day had no audio problems with several blunt reminders to those present to work the system correctly.

As noted at the time the meeting on the Tuesday had two items of business, to elect the Mayor and to appoint a Deputy Mayor. The latter did not take place on either the Tuesday or the reconvened meeting 24 hours later, despite the Council’s Constitution stating in 4.10 an election should take place.

We asked Wrexham Council if the meeting was carried out correctly and what happens if the council does not follow the constitution. A spokesperson told us, “The Full Council was constitutional. We were not able to progress the appointment of Deputy Mayor at Council as we did not have recommendations from the Constitution Working Group to consider. The fact that an item was not considered at Council does not make the meeting unconstitutional.”

We asked about the working group, and asked who was on it and if Wrexham.com could attend the next meeting, we were told “The remit of the Constitution Working Group was approved at Council Item 11 recommendation 3.7. The Constitution Working Group is not a formal committee meeting (so not public) and does not make decisions, only recommendations.”

Currently Wrexham has no Deputy Mayor, with it understood the Labour and Independent groups both wish to put a name of a councillor forward for the role. Traditionally the person who gets to be Deputy Mayor becomes the Mayor the following year.

The new Mayor’s speech in full:

“Prynhawn da good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, fellow Councillors, Officers and distinguished guests.

“May I first take this opportunity to thank my fellow Councillors for their support in electing me as Mayor for the coming year.

“Can I thank Councillor Ronnie Prince and Sunanda Kapas for their dedication as Mayor and Mayoress over the past difficult twelve months, during which we were still feeling the impact of the Covid pandemic.

“I would also like to thank the residents of Whitegate for putting their trust in me once again by electing me to be their County Councillor at the recent local elections, thereby enabling me to become the Mayor of Wrexham.

“I would like to thank Councillor Graham Rogers for proposing me and Councillor Krista Childs for seconding me to be the Mayor of Wrexham for the 2022- 2023 period. It is truly an honour.

“I would like to thank my wife Kerry for all her support over the years and for agreeing to be my Mayoress and to thank my son Lee for being in attendance today to share this special occasion with us.

“Can I take this opportunity to thank the Reverend Dr Jason Bray for continuing as Mayor’s Chaplain for my term of office. Thank you Jason for joining us today.

“Wrexham County Borough Council has already received levelling up Funding from the UK Government for the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct Project. It is now hoped that the second phase of the Levelling up bid from the UK Government will also be successful in helping the Wrexham Gateway Project here in the Town, along with Welsh Government Funding.

“We will shortly learn the outcome of the City of Culture bid. I would like thank the local community who have worked alongside the City of Culture Team, for all their support and hard work. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that Wrexham is successful next Tuesday.

“We also learned last week that Wrexham is to be awarded City Status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

“We have plenty to celebrate in the County Borough at present and Kerry and I are really looking forward to our term of office.

“Outside of Mayoral engagements, I will hopefully still have some time to cheer on our fantastic football team. There are certainly exciting times ahead, with the prospect of promotion for Wrexham AFC, after only narrowly missing out on winning the FA Trophy at Wembley on Sunday.

“Kerry and I would like to thank the Mayoral Team for the help and advice they have given us whilst being Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayoress. It was very much appreciated and we look forward to working with them again this year.

“I would also like to thank all staff who have continued to deliver services during the most difficult of circumstances.

“It now leads me to name our nominated charities for the Mayors Charity Fund for the coming year. This has been a difficult decision because there are so many deserving causes and we have met many wonderful people during our time as Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayoress, who do so much great work for these causes. My chosen charities for my term of office are:

Nightingale House Hospice
Wrexham Food Bank
and Dynamic
“I feel very privileged to be chosen as Mayor and Kerry and I will represent Wrexham County Borough Council and its residents to the best of our ability.

“Dioich yn fawr iawn. Thank you all very much.”