The mayor of Sandbach has had his term extended by a year due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Cllr Geraint Price Jones was officially sworn into his second year in office during yesterday evening's virtual mayor making ceremony.

Cllr Gill Merry said: "I'm extremely pleased to propose Cllr Price Jones as mayor of Sandbach for the year May 2021 to May 2022. In submitting this proposal, I am aware that Cllr Price Jones has already completed one year as mayor, however, we have just experienced a difficult and challenging year for everyone, not least local authorities.

"Throughout this period Cllr Price has supported and encouraged staff to a very large degree. He has chaired our remote meetings under some difficult circumstances and yet at the same time has not being able due to restrictions to attend community events as would normally fall upon the mayor."

She went onto say that the continuous term "does not set a precedent" and that it is a "product of the times we are experiencing".

Cllr Price Jones said: "I feel that this is an ideal time for us to talk about what's coming next and our hope through summer and through the rest of the year that we will be able to have something approaching normality and to run the events that the council loves to bring to the town."

The North West Air Ambulance has been chosen as the mayor's charity for the new civic year.

Reflecting on his first year as mayor, he said: "I did manage to carry out some mayoral activities ranging from judging shop windows to opening care homes.

"I also attended the VJ Day ceremony so many in August and remembrance ceremony in November. These are extremely important dates for the town and they will mean so much to us next year when we can collectively mark these dates together."

Cllr Kathryn Flavell also had her term as deputy mayor extended by another year.