The first citizen of Redbridge for next year has been announced.

Labour Cllr Barbara White was chosen as Mayor of Redbridge for 2015/16 in a full council announcement on Thursday night at Redbridge town hall, in Ilford.

A Goodmayes councillor since 2010, Cllr White will start the role in May 2015.

Cllr White, who was chosen without a ballot due to no one else being nominated, will take over from current Conservative Mayor Cllr Ashley Kissin.

She said: “I regard this as a great honour to be the first citizen of the borough and I will do my best to follow in the footsteps of the previous mayors who have served here.

“I joined the council after being a community activist and this is how I still want to be seen, all I can say is thank you very much and I will do my best to represent the people of Redbridge.”

Cllr White was nominated by current leader of Labour's Redbridge council, Cllr Jas Athwal, and this was seconded by former Redbridge Conservative leader Cllr Keith Prince.

She said: "It is particularly delightful that I was nominated by the current leader of the council and it has cross-party support.

"I have to choose a charity too and it is a difficult choice, anybody who knows me knows I love animals but I also know how important it is to protect elderly people who cannot speak up for themselves.

"Cllr Kissin has done great job and has raised a great deal of money for the Royal British Legion so I hope people continue giving money to them while he is still mayor."