Chairman & Vice Chairman Appointed
Horley Town Council
Press Release: May 2024
Appointments of Council Chairman & Town Mayor and Vice-Chairman & Deputy Town Mayor 2024/25
At the Annual Meeting of Horley Town Council held on Tuesday, 7 May 2024, Members of Horley Town Council re-elected Cllr Martin Saunders as Council Chairman & Town Mayor for the Municipal Year 2024/25. Cllr Tom Turner was re-elected as Vice-Chairman & Deputy Town Mayor.
On accepting the appointment as Mayor, Cllr Saunders said, "I am delighted and honoured to be elected to the office of Council Chairman & Town Mayor for a second Municipal Year. My sincere gratitude is extended to my fellow Members for giving me this opportunity which I will carry out with passion and dedication. Horley is a town that deserves growth and regeneration, and I'm looking forward to working with our sister borough and county council and other sources of funding to ensure Horley is top of everyone's investment priority list".
Council Chairman & Town Mayor, Cllr Martin Saunders, accompanied by Vice-Chairman & Deputy Town Mayor, Cllr Tom Turner
In his concluding address, Cllr Saunders congratulated Cllr Turner on his re-appointment as Vice-Chairman and Deputy Town Mayor.
On accepting his appointment as Deputy Mayor, Cllr Turner said "I am delighted to have been given the chance to serve the town that raised me for another year in the Deputy Mayor role and I will continue to work for a better deal for all in Horley, especially our most vulnerable and younger residents."
Martin became a town councillor in 2019 as an independent residents association candidate for Horley East. Martin’s career is in the internet industry, having worked for several Internet Service Providers and managed IT businesses. He founded Level Up Laptop Appeal, a project developed to donate laptops to disadvantaged young people in the Horley area which has donated over 2,000 laptops to date. Martin is also very passionate about the environment, especially climate change and plastic waste. He proposed the council’s climate emergency motion in 2019 and shortly after, the HTC Environment Working Group was later formed.
Cllr Turner is a lifelong Horley resident who works in Business Intelligence at South East Coast Ambulance Service, having previously studied at the University of Oxford and worked as a civil servant in public health.
At the first meeting of the Municipal Year, all Members were appointed to the main Committees, and Sub-Committees and the Committee Chairs and Vice-Chairs were also elected. The schedule of Council meetings for the Municipal Year 2024/25 is available on the Town Council’s website and community notice boards.
