A former UKIP councillor is set to be made the mayor of High Wycombe later this year.

Independent councillor, Brian Pearce, will take the chains from cllr Zia Ahmed at the traditional mayor making ceremony in May.

The ward member for Booker and Cressex was voted in by the Charter Trustees at a meeting on Tuesday evening (January 17), beating cllr Matt Knight to the role.

Cllr Pearce’s said he is "over the moon" to be selected as mayor - after losing to Khalil Ahmed in 2014 by the drawing of names from a hat - and he now hopes to be a catalyst in bringing the “wow factor” back to High Wycombe.

He said: “I am over the moon – I am just coming to terms with it. I am looking forward to supporting my two chosen charities.

“I just wanted to make a difference. I want to help people. I just want to represent the town of High Wycombe which I have always lived in.

“I feel very proud and honoured to represent High Wycombe in this way. I remember when my mother first came here at the start of the war she got off at her stop and saw the High Street and just went “wow” look at this place.

“I would like to be a catalyst to get the wow factor back into High Wycombe, particularly the High Street.”

Cllr Pearce was pipped to the post in the 2007 councillor elections, Val Razzaq, after names were drawn from a hat when both parties received 410 votes each.

He was finally victorious in 2011 when he was elected to Wycombe District Council as a Ukip councillor, and was elected again in 2015.

However in February last year cllr Pearce left the party after the “disadvantages began to outweigh the benefits”, and has remained an independent councillor ever since.

The outspoken councillor has ruffled a few feathers in his political career, and labelled MP Steve Baker as “foolish” at last year’s mayor making, after the politician paraded a “vote leave” banner across stage at the historic weigh-in.

Cllr Pearce continued: “It has taken me 12 to 13 years to get to this point and I am getting a bit choked up about it all. I want to reach out to everybody in High Wycombe of all ethnic groups.”

Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja will be appointed as cllr Pearce’s deputy.