WATCHET could follow in the footsteps of Minehead and Dulverton and appoint a town mayor to lead its civic duties.

The move to change the title of town council chairman to mayor was raised by outgoing chairman Cllr Sally de Renzy-Martin at the authority's annual meeting on Monday.

She said the title was "non-sexist".

"I have been chairman of this council, on and off, for a number of years and in that time I have got a bit teed off as I have been known for years as chairman and only recently as chair," she said.

Cllr de Renzy-Martin said the council had the right to call the authority's chairman a mayor and Minehead and Dulverton had already made the change.

But newly elected chairman Cllr Loretta Whetlor said she had no problem with the title of chairman.

"I do have a problem with being called chair because a chair is an inanimate object."

Several councillors questioned whether the title of mayor carried any legal or financial implications and said more research needed to be carried out before the matter could be taken any further.

But Cllr John Richards said, although Watchet was a 'quality' council, he worried that adopting the title of mayor could make the authority look posher than it was.

But Cllr de Renzy-Martin, who agreed to undertake the research, said she failed to see why Cllr Richards saw the change as an elevation.

And Cllr Peter Murphy said that, although he was reserving judgement on the idea, having a mayor would clarify the chairman's role.

"It is a civic leader of a town and when you change the title from chairman to mayor you make that clearer."

Cllr Lin Hart said she also thought it was a good idea, as long as there was no cost attached.

Earlier in the meeting Cllr Whetlor was elected by seven votes to five, beating off a rival bid for the chairmanship from Cllr Murphy.

Cllr Murphy also lost out on the vice-chairmanship, a post he had held for the past year, to Cllr Dave Westcott - but only on the casting vote of Cllr Whetlor after a six-all tie.

Cllr de Renzy-Martin, who had been chairman since 2010, won praise from councillors and council clerk Sarah Reed for her hard work and support.

And in return she said she wanted to thank councillors and all the staff for the hard work and achievements of the past year.

"We are seen as a council of excellence in this area and that is not just down to councillors but down to the staff who work for us."

Cllr Whetlor told the meeting Cllr de Renzy-Martin would be "a very hard act to follow".

"But I know we are a very, very good council," she said.

"We are praised far and wide and we will continue to do what we do, which is helping the people of this town."