OKEHAMPTON Town Council have appointed a new town councillor ? Peter Stunéll has been chosen as the man to fill one of two vacancies on the authority. Mr Stunéll, 58, served in the RAF for 30 years, rising from airman to commissioned officer, finishing his career as Flt Lt in the engineering branch. Mr Stunéll and his wife have lived in the town for more than five years. After leaving the RAF in 1996, he worked for Suffolk County Council in the trading standards department before moving to a hotel, golf and leisure complex. He worked in the golf department and came into contact with people from all walks of life, including footballers from Ipswich Town FC and organisers of major charity events. Mr Stunéll said it had been his wish to live in Okehampton for some 30 years, ever since his first holiday in the area. He enjoyed the area so much that he trained teams for Ten Tors and finished his RAF career as a Tor Marshall. Mr Stunéll is an active member of Okehampton Excelsior Silver Band and is treasurer of the Okehampton branch of West Devon and Torridge Conservatives. He is also a member of the committee of the Conservative Club and runs an allotment on the North Road site. Mr Stunéll says: ?My background and political persuasion is Conservative. However, it is my strongly held belief that party politics should be on the back burner when dealing with purely local issues and that any town councillor should allow their efforts to be directed to what best serves the town and its people.? Mr Stunéll stood for election at the last town council polling day two years ago, but narrowly lost out. One issue Mr Stunéll said he hoped to explore in greater depth as a member of the town council was the need for a coach park facility. He said as an attractive town, Okehampton would be a popular stop-off point for coach drivers if convenient parking was available. Mr Stunéll was chosen by councillors from a list of four candidates to be co-opted onto the town council at a recent council meeting. l Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council has also recently co-opted a new member, Andy Ewen, proprietor of local business Okehampton Glass. Mr Ewen, 46, who lives at Brightley Farm, recently stepped down as chairman of Okehampton branch of the Round Table. He set up Okehampton Glass 15 years ago and the firm now employs a 12-strong workforce. He has a long association with Okehampton Rugby Club ? he played for more than 25 years before retiring last year, and has been coaching for the last ten years. Mr Ewen?s family moved to Okehampton in 1965 and he says he has developed a great affection for the town. ?I do love Okehampton. I have travelled quite widely in recent years, but it is the place to come back to. There is nowhere nicer.? Andy said some of the top issues of concern to him were the need for a link road for Okehampton and traffic problems at Brightley, where residents are campaigning for a reduction in the speed limit. He said it was also ?paramount? for the Hamlets Council to work to protect the interests of farmers in the area. Mr Ewen was chosen for co-option by councillors at the Hamlets? recent annual assembly.
