THE race to find a new mayor for one of the most controversy-mired councils in the district is hotting up, with the final nomination deadline just two days away.

Frontrunner Queenie Comfort – a former Lord Mayor of Oxford – has officially thrown her hat into the ring, and as leader of the Ferndown Town Council’s Ferndown First Group, the East Dorset district councillor looks a favourite.

But current deputy mayor Jason Lawford – who was unavailable for comment as the Daily Echo went to press – could still try for the top job.

Cllr Comfort said: “All I can confirm is that I have agreed to be nominated.”

With the deadline looming, the only nomination officially lodged as of yesterday was for Cllr Jean Read as deputy mayor.

Both posts will be decided by council members on April 6.

The council, the largest in the district, has hit the headlines in the past.

In 2007, mayor Liz Stevens declined to hand back her chains of office when councillors demanded she do so and instead asked councillors to stop “bullying” her.

Her civic reception saw a former councillor set off a personal alarm and another used the diversion to step on to the stage and make presentations on the mayor’s behalf.

Deputy mayor Cllr Roberta Lovett was then outvoted to be the next mayor, a post that Cllr Lesley Dedman has now held for two years.

The town council hit the headlines again, when so many councillors walked out that it triggered new elections, costing £13,000 in fees in July 2007.

Cllr Dedman, who at one point did not rule out standing for a third term, has confirmed she will not be standing.

She said: “It's been a wonderful two years for me as mayor of Ferndown and I think whoever takes over the role will find a very different town council from the one I took over.”