A NEW leader has been appointed at Maldon District Council.

The authority appointed a new leader at a full council meeting on Tuesday.

The council is now led by Conservative councillor Penny Channer after acting leader Richard Siddall lost in the bid to replace Wendy Stamp, an Independent, as leader.

Mrs Channer thanked members and said she was “very privileged and honoured” to be elected after receiving two more votes than Mr Siddall.

Fellow Tory councillor Maddie Thompson was elected as deputy leader to replace Independent councillor Stephen Nunn.

Mr Nunn resigned along with Mrs Stamp in November.

Mr Siddall took over as leader designate before an election could take place at a full council meeting on December 16, which was abandoned early due to a disruption.

Tuesday’s meeting also faced disruption as residents protested outside the offices in Princes Road after they were prevented from accessing the chamber by security.

Chairman Mark Heard was asked by some council members if there was any way members of the public could attend the meeting.

Monitoring officer Simon Quelch said: "My understanding is that this council made a decision in relation to the safety of everybody...because of the present crisis of Covid...that really it can only be members and even many employees are not attending because of that, they are attending remotely."

He added: "At the moment that is how matters stand - and that is why we have security staff down there."

Members of the public outside the offices could be heard in the livestream of last night's meeting singing "why are we waiting?".

The council announced the default option for public participation at meetings would be by using Microsoft Teams.

This is as the authority is limiting the number of people physically attending meetings due to Covid-19.

Members of the public must sign up to attend in advance and their request could be refused.

Watch the full council meeting here.