The city’s new mayor and deputy for the next 12 months have been elected.

Cllr Adrian Gregson has made the step up to serve as mayor of Worcester for the year with Cllr Louis Stephen taking up the position of deputy mayor after a vote during a meeting of Worcester City Council on Tuesday (May 17).

Cllr Gregson, who stepped down as the council’s Labour leader earlier this month after 21 years in the job, served as last year’s deputy mayor under outgoing mayor Cllr Stephen Hodgson.

Cllr Stephen, who is the council’s Green leader, is the first person from the party to hold a ceremonial role and if traditionally is followed will become the first Green mayor of Worcester next May.

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Cllr Gregson said he would not be appointing a chaplain for his mayoral year and would instead be resurrecting the role of public orator, which was last used in 1575 during the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to the city, with Ian Craigan taking up the role.

Cllr Gregson has chosen county arts and music charity Severn Arts and youth charity OnSide as his chosen charities for the year.

“Drawing inspiration from my grandad’s twin, who was the mayor of Glossop in the 1940s, and was known as the ‘musical mayor’, I have decided that my theme this year will be tackling mental health and wellbeing through a culture of creativity, art and music,” he said.

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Cllr Marjory Bisset said she believed Cllr Stephen would “bring the city together.”

“We’ve had Green councillors for over 10 years now and I think we’ve shown that we make a good and valuable contribution to this council," she said.

“And I think that after 10 years it might possibly time to have a Green mayor, that is if everything works out in the normal way. I think Cllr Stephen will make an excellent mayor.”

Cllr Tom Piotrowski, who nominated Cllr Stephen for the deputy mayorship, said it was a good time for the city to have a Green councillor serving in the role after a succession of Conservative and Labour nominees.