The next mayor of Douglas will be Councillor Raina Chatel.

Mrs Chatel has been a member of the council since 1985. Her appointment was made at a private meeting of the council last week.

Councillor Chatel will be mayor for the municipal year ending Tuesday, May 8, 2022, and said she would accept the office if confirmed at the annual council meeting on Wednesday, August 11.

Before then, the town council will be radically changed. The number of councillors will be cut from 18 to 12 after the local authorities general election, which has been postponed until July.

The position of mayor in Douglas isn’t a political. He or she is not the equivalent of Sadiq Khan in London.

The role is ceremonial. The mayor represents the town at official events and he or she also chairs the council’s meetings. Elsewhere in the island the equivalent position is the chair of the local commissioners.

Councillor Chatel, whose late husband George was also a councillor, became the first woman on whom the Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Douglas in 2016.