The 'father of the council' has been unanimously elected as its mayor.

On May 23 Cllr Stephen Murray was sworn in as town mayor of Loughton for 2018/19, having been nominated by Cllr Chris Pond.

In his nomination Cllr Pond referred to the inaugural meeting of Loughton Parish Council on May 8, 1996 in Lopping Hall, when Cllr Murray was elected as its first chairman.

After his election, the new mayor said: "I regard this as a great honour and I will certainly endeavour to carry out my civic responsibilities to the very best of my abilities.

"There are some hard acts to follow – not least Cllr Phillip Abraham who, in my view, has had an outstanding year as our Town Mayor.

"I have lived in our wonderful town for very nearly 60 years and chose to pursue my teaching career in Loughton schools.

"I have also had the privilege of serving our town as an elected councillor for 36 years so I think I can safely say I know our town relatively well."

As well as his duties as a town councillor, Cllr Murray is currently the longest serving member of Epping Forest District Council - a honour that has him referred to as 'father of the council'.

He added: "I am really looking forward to meeting in the next 12 months as many community groups, schools, businesses and volunteers as possible that make Loughton such a great place to live and work.

"I also intend to speak out for Loughton about the key local issues such as the threats to Jessel Green and local bus services, and the future of Epping Forest College and our retail centres.”

The new town mayor congratulated Cllr Stella Murphy on her appointment as Deputy Town Mayor.

She first joined the Council in 2016 to represent The Broadway ward.