Onnalee Cubitt has been elected as the new mayor of Basingstoke and Deane.

The Conservative councillor, who represents Basing and Upton Grey, was approved for the position unanimously at a full council meeting on Thursday evening.

Cllr Cubitt was first elected to the borough council in 2008 and has served as a Conservative and independent councillor during her time on the authority.

She used her first address to the council chamber, sitting at the Haymarket theatre for social distancing, to highlight her love for the Anvil and Haymarket theatres.

"The Haymarket holds many personal memories," she said, with her first performance being at age 4.

"The stimulation and excitement of live theatre is unique and impossible to replicate. The impact this place has on our young is profound and life-enriching."

"We are nothing without the arts."

It comes after the authority's cabinet cut funding for the Anvil Arts earlier this year, the organisation that runs the Basingstoke theatres.

Proposing Cllr Cubitt for mayor, fellow Conservative ward councillor Sven Godesen said: "We have represented our ward together for 13 years.

"The qualities that spring to mind are integrity, honesty and enormous capacity for hard work and dogged determination to see every problem to a satisfactory solution."

Meanwhile, Cllr Laura James (BDI, Norden), added: "Onnalee is passionate about Basingstoke and Deane, but then again she is passionate about all she does.

"There is a saying about speaking truth to power. Onnalee is the embodiment of that, she really does speak truth to power."

Additionally, Cllr Paul Miller (CON, Chineham), best known as chairman of the Development Control committee, was elected as deputy mayor of Basingstoke and Deane.

Cllr Cubitt came in for criticism from some quarters earlier this year after she likened plans to change the way the council offices are used to Year Zero, a term widely recognised as Pol Pot’s takeover in Cambodia, during which 1.8 million people died.

It saw her party colleague and deputy leader Simon Bound withdraw his support earlier this year for her becoming the next mayor.

“The residents of our borough have every right to expect much better than this from their councillors and in Cllr Cubitt's case from the deputy mayor," he said at the time.

“Her track record of being offensive and not giving a damn who she upsets makes her completely unqualified for this role and I will not be supporting her appointment."

However, none of the 54 councillors objected to her appointment.