Veteran Mersea councillor John Jowers is to become Colchester’s deputy mayor in May paving the way for him to become mayor of Colchester in 2023.

Mr Jowers, who is 76 and a Conservative councillor for Mersea and Tiptree, had previously been Mersea mayor in the early 1990s.

Having turned down the deputy mayoralty previously, Mr Jowers has now accepted the invitation to take up the civic post.

He will succeed the incoming Tim Young, who is to be Colchester’s mayor in May.

Mr Jowers was educated at St Thomas More’s Primary School and Colchester Royal Grammar School.

In the early 1960s, Mr Jowers left Essex for Leicester becoming a teacher and lecturer, but he returned to Mersea in the early 1970s to become a fisherman.

This role piqued his interest in local politics and led him to become a Conservative councillor in 1986.

From then, he served as a councillor in Mersea until 1997, then in Colchester until 2003.

He was leader of Colchester Council Conservatives from 2003 to 2005 and between 2005 and 2006 was, simultaneously, both a cabinet member for Essex County Council and leader of Colchester Council, a role he described as “impossible.”

Mr Jowers has been on Colchester Council and Essex County Council since 2006.