SKIPTON'S new mayor Andy Rankine was elected unopposed to the town's new 'hung' council.

Independent member, Cllr Rankine, elected at last week's annual meeting of Skipton Town Council, said he looked forward to working with all councillors in what he described as a 'challenging' year ahead.

Re-elected back onto the town council in 2015, Cllr Rankine was last town mayor in 2002 - the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

"That was a fabulous time to be mayor, this will be a challenging year, and I hope we will all work together, " he said.

Cllr Rankine thanked outgoing mayor, Cllr Martin Emmerson, and said he would forever be known as the 'dancing mayor' because of his involvement in BBC2's Our Dancing Town, which pitched Skipton up against other Yorkshire market towns.

Cllr Rankine, whose consort for the year will be his wife, Angela, said he would be supporting children's charity Skipton Extended Learning for All (SELFA).

Cllr Alan Hickman (Lab) was elected deputy mayor, while Cllr Chris Clark (Cons) was elected council leader, taking over from Cllr Chris Harbron (Cons).

Cllr Peter Madeley (Lab) was elected deputy leader, and Cllr Robert Heseltine (Ind), last year's deputy leader, was elected shadow leader of the council.

Cllr Madeley, who nominated Cllr Rankine as mayor, said there would be a lot of change in the year ahead for the council - referring to a confidential staffing review.

"We need to change, and we have got to change. Over the last couple of years, since I've been on the council, we've taken a couple of steps forward, and three steps back. We know what we've got to do to move forward, and we will have to act on it," he said.

Councillors could not carry on expecting more and more of the council officers, he said.

"As councillors, we have a judgement to make, how we are going to lead this council, how we are going to communicate with our staff, and especially the chief officer," he said.

The town council is 'hung' with no one political party with overall control. There are seven Conservative members, six Independents, two Labour, and one Liberal Democrat.