John Whittle elected as new chairman of East Riding of Yorkshire Council

Cllr Whittle, who has served as vice chairman for the last year, has been an independent councillor for North Holderness since his election to East Riding of Yorkshire Council in 2007.

Since his election, Councillor Whittle has been a member of strategic planning committee for the last 15 years and also sits on the children and young people overview and scrutiny committee.

Before his election to East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Councillor Whittle had been a member of Holderness Borough Council and has sat on Hornsea Town Council since the early 1980s and has served as their mayor on seven occasions, including in 1987 when, at the age of 31, he was their youngest elected mayor at that time.

Cllr Whittle said: “It is a great honour to be elected as the chairman of East Riding of Yorkshire Council and I’m very much looking forward to the year ahead.

“While we’re all learning to live with the COVID pandemic we still need to focus on bringing tourism back to the East Riding and help boost the economy and I’m looking forward to genuinely being able to help the people that I’ll be meeting over the next year.”

Cllr Whittle has three step-daughters, six grandchildren as well as a number of great- grandchildren and is also a well-known figure in Hornsea’s amateur dramatic and operatic scene.

The charities he will be supporting during his year in office will be Hornsea Lions.

Councillor Pauline Greenwood, Conservative ward member for Beverley Rural, has been elected as vice chairman of the council and will serve in this role until May 2023.