SHALDON Parish Council, which has been riven by internal squabbling with three chairmen in a year, has a new leader.

Cllr Maia Miller was elected chairman at the annual meeting, and declared she was confident of being able to unite the council.

She is a businesswoman with a background in mathematics, computing and education, working at South Devon College for almost a decade, and is now a freelance working for several companies.

A member of the Green Party, Cllr Miller is also a pagan – a movement that has reverence for nature – but believes that politics have no place at parish council level.