AT 39, new Tavistock town councillor Trev Munro is joint youngest member on the council — and he would like to see more younger people come forward to join him.

At the elections on May 4, Trev was elected to Tavistock north ward, while Tavi Pride joint founder Julu Irvine, also 39, was elected to the Tavistock south west ward.

Trev has lived in Tavistock for three years with his partner, and has already got involved with lots of things in town, from the Lions to the Legion and the Scouts.

He had been on the town council in Ivybridge, where his work in the tyre industry is based, but, working three days a week from home in Tavistock, he decided he would like to join the council where he lives.

‘When I first moved to Tavistock, I decided I would keep off the radar for six months while I renovated the house,’ he said. ‘Then I met Tony Welsh, part of the Lions. He asked if I would join them.’

From this has sprung more invovlement in the community, as part of the Neighbourhood Development Plan group, which has seen him get involved with hopes to set up a new skatepark for youngsters in the town. This is something he will be pushing as a town councillor, along with sharing his expertise with IT.

‘My focus will be helping support the skatepark and the young people in the town,’ he said. ‘I think there needs to be a greater focus to try and involve with young people in decision making.’He explained his youth work had got him involved in join Ivybridge Town Council, where he was a councillor for four years. ‘In Ivybridge we had a town clerk who knew I was involved in various organisations and charities and she said these skills would be useful on the council. At the time, I asked about the time commitment, and felt it was something I could do.We worked on setting up a skatepark and have managed to secure funding to develop that. With the town council in Tavistock, it could be my skills could come in handy. There were problems with Ivybridge with anti social behaviour among youth and we had to talk to young people to find out what they want. ‘The council needs to find new ways of interacting with young people,’ he said. Proud to be ‘totally independent’ he stressed that he was just getting to know the way the council works.’I’ve been to one full council meeting already and I’m part of the development management committee, I’m the vice chair of that.’ Trev would like to see more younger councillors, as the town council looks to fill two vacancies — one in the south east ward and one in the north ward to bring the council up to a full complement of 17 councillors. They hope to do this through co-option — where existing councillors choose the new ones – at the council meeting on June 20. ‘We want to encourage people who might be interested to ask questions, and find out what is involved.’