THE new Mayor of St Neots, Councillor Paul Ursell, wants to see the building of the £700,000 Eatons Community Centre brought forward and greater powers for St Neots Town Council to take up the daily issues that concern residents. Cllr Ursell told The Hunt

THE new Mayor of St Neots, Councillor Paul Ursell, wants to see the building of the £700,000 Eatons Community Centre brought forward and greater powers for St Neots Town Council to take up the daily issues that concern residents.

Cllr Ursell told The Hunts Post: "I would like to see the community centre up and running. Building is scheduled to start early next year but it would be good for it to start at the end of this year."

He added: "We are a quality status council and I hope that this will allow us to take over more services from the district council, including street cleaning and dealing with anti-social behaviour. This includes everything from graffiti to illegal parking. Illegal parking is a big problem in St Neots. People don't think it is a crime to park where they shouldn't but it is and it has to be tackled."

Cllr Ursell, 53, said the council would still pursue its bid to attract an operator to open a cinema in St Neots. "The problem is that, although St Neots is the biggest town in Huntingdonshire, its catchment area is small. It is the catchment area that cinema operators look at and St Neots is surrounded by fields."

Cllr Ursell, who moved with his family from Eastbourne to St Neots 15 years ago, has been a councillor since 2000. He was a Huntingdonshire district councillor for Eynesbury from 2001 to 2004 and deputy mayor of St Neots during 2004/5. His mayoress is his former wife, Lorraine, and his deputy is Councillor Margaret Garner .