Peasedown St John’s longest serving Bath & North East Somerset Councillor has announced her retirement after 20 consecutive years in office.

Cllr Sarah Bevan, who was first elected to the local authority in 2003, has served an historic five terms on the council.

Sarah said: “Representing Peasedown St John on the council has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me along the way, in particular the thousands of residents I’ve met over the years.”

During her tenure Sarah has served as Chairwoman of the Council, Chair of the Resources Scrutiny Panel, and Leader of the Independent Group.

Since 2003, Sarah has completed almost 10,000 pieces of casework, each and everyone of them in response to a resident who has got in touch with her asking for help and support.

To succeed her on the council, Sarah has given her public endorsement to Gavin Heathcote at this May’s local elections.

“Peasedown St John has an even brighter future ahead of it,” added Sarah, “it’s because of this that I’m giving my public backing to Gavin Heathcote to succeed me on the council.

Gavin will stand as the second Independent Candidate alongside Cllr Karen Walker on May 4th in Peasedown St John.”

Gavin Heathcote is well known in the village for his community activism. He is one of the founders of the Peasedown Community Trust and has been instrumental in setting up some of the village’s most successful initiatives such as the Winter Support Fund, Peasedown Community Orchard, providing food for families in need at Christmas and he’s one of the organisers of the popular Peasedown Party in the Park festival.

Gavin said: “Thank you to Sarah for everything you’ve done for us over the last 20 years. Your public support means a lot to me – we’ll always be grateful for the work you’ve done to help and aid residents over the last two decades.

If it’s the will of the electorate, I’d be honoured to join Cllr Karen Walker on the council. Together, we’ll be a strong team for Peasedown – always fighting hard for residents and campaigning for more funding and investment for our great community.”

Villagers in Peasedown St John will have two votes to elect two councillors to represent it on B&NES on May 4th.

Re-standing alongside Gavin is long serving councillor Karen Walker, who added: “I’ve been working with Gavin for the last 10 years in Peasedown on a range of community projects. He knows the area well and has a real passion for campaigning for a fairer deal for residents.

Together we hope to continue to put Peasedown first! With additional funding coming to the community soon we’ll be working with residents to make sure it’s spent on the issues that matter to them.”