MEMBERS of Oxenhope Parish Council have elected a new chairman.

Councillor Ken Eastwood has taken over from Cllr Tony Maw.

And Cllr Penny Cusdin was re-elected as vice-chairman at the same meeting.

Cllr Eastwood has lived in Oxenhope for 28 years and runs a business providing consultancy training for social media and website design.

He was responsible for setting up the Fibre Valley initiative to fight for fast, reliable broadband internet connections for the Worth Valley.

He previously worked as an environmental health officer for Bradford Council for 13 years, and was Barnsley Council's assistant director of regulatory services for nine years.

He said: "I'm grateful for the support I've had from other councillors on the parish council.

"It is an exciting time in terms of the opportunities we have as a council to explore how we can do things differently, particularly in light of the austerity agenda.

"We are some distance from the centre [of Bradford district] so there is a danger of us being forgotten about as the squeeze on the public purse takes hold. We need to think about how we can keep Oxenhope on the map."

Cllr Eastwood said the process will begin later this year to recruit a planning consultant to help put together a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the village.