Chesham mayor David Ponting has loved his year in office but is looking forward to a slower pace of life. James Cox reports.

CHESHAM'S millennium mayor David Ponting is looking forward to a slower pace of life when he takes off his chains of office next month.

For the past year town councillor Ponting has been juggling his role in local politics with the management of his own business and caring for his young spaniels, Cassie and Sibyl.

And even though the 48-year-old, of Waterside, Chesham, has enjoyed his mayoral tour of duty, he is ready to move on.

Cllr Ponting (Lib Dem, Waterside) explained: "Being mayor has actually been very interesting and it has been really nice to work with various organisations in the town. I wish I had more time to do it.

"But it has been a lot more hard work than I though tit was going to be."

He added: "Now I'll have time to do some of the gardening and the ironing I haven't had time to do. And I'll have more time to walk my dogs. Just catching up with things really."

The mayor reckons he has attended more than 75 formal and informal engagements since he took up the post almost a year ago.

And he admits that it was not all plain sailing at first - not least because wearing his ceremonial gold chain left Cllr Ponting a bit red in the face.

"I found it a bit embarrassing to start with but I soon realised that often people are as keen to see the chain of office as the person wearing it.

"It is a bit naughty to turn up without the chain on. A couple of times I did turn up without them and people were disappointed."

Cllr Ponting was born in Welwyn Garden City, Herts, and after his school days went to Manchester University to study economics and social studies.

He has been a Chesham town councillor for six years and has served on Chiltern District Council for two years. He represents Chesham's Waterside ward on both councils.

He said: "I just wanted to represent people and friends down in Waterside. It has been good - it's an interesting hobby.

"Being mayor as well has certainly been an experience. It's a good experience, you get to meet a lot of people and get to see the whole community in action. I thought I knew a great many people but I know so many more people now."

In Chesham's 2000/2001 Town Guide, Cllr Ponting said Chesham had undergone a range of improvements since he moved to the town 11 years ago.

In his welcoming message he wrote: "After pedestrianisation we saw the installation of CCTV to improve the safety of all in the town, a major refurbishment of the swimming pool on the Moor in 1997 and the new Town Hall, Elgiva and Sainsbury development in 1998 transformed what had previously been rather drab areas of the town."

But some people still believe Chesham is in decline and the town centre is still sometimes referred to as "bleak".

A year later Cllr Ponting is still optimistic for the future.

"The High Street is improving a lot and the market is back and it's a good, thriving market. There are also more shops than last year."

But one problem he is worried about is Chesham's difficulty to keep its young people in the town because of high house prices.

He explained: "We are surrounded by Green Belt here so we just can't keep expanding. With the cost of housing young people can't afford to live in the town so they move out. That is a bad thing because unless we've got a complete range of age groups, the town is not going to thrive in the long run. I think that's a big problem.

"We need a better mix of housing in the town so there's enough there for young people and first time buyers."

He added: "This is a problem that will just keep on going on and on in the future."

But in the more immediate future, on May 14, Cllr Ponting will be obliged to pass on his mayoral duties to another of his town council colleges to continue the good work.

"Hopefully now I'll have more time to train my dogs because they really are little rascals at the moment. I just hope they're still young enough to teach new tricks."