Winchester councillors were set to elect Cecily Sutton as the city's new mayor tonight.

Cllr Sutton, who represents Colden Common and Twyford, is currently deputy mayor and will replace Jean Hammerton who has held the post for the past 12 months.

The candidate for new deputy mayor is Conservative councillor Neil Baxter, who represents the Itchen Valley.

They were due to be confirmed at the city council's annual meeting this evening.

It is the first time in a decade that Winchester's annual meeting has been held with no one political party in overall control.

Elections on June 10 left the Liberal Democrats as the largest party but with three fewer seats.

They have 26 seats but could be ousted as controlling party if all the opposition groups banded together. The Tories have 22 seats, Independents five and Labour four.

Liberal Democrat council leader Sheila Campbell has said she intends to attempt to rule as a minority administration.

An informal council meeting was held last night and it looks as if the Lib Dems will attempt to carry on.

Tory leader Barry Lipscomb was keen on trying to oust the Lib Dems but was persuaded against it at a heated meeting of his group.

The Conservatives would need the co-operation of the Independents but that is highly unlikely following a bitter row over an election leaflet in the Shedfield ward.

The Tory leaflet said the Lib Dems had formed a secret pact with the Independents. That charge was vigorously denied by Independent group leader Colin Chamberlain who took legal advice for libel. Further legal action looks unlikely.

WINCHESTER'S first citizen has visited a city-based company to say a big thank you for supporting her charity fund during her year in office.

Councillor Jean Hammerton, and her deputy Councillor Cecily Sutton, took a trip to the headquarters of NTL' s broadcast division at Crawley, just outside Winchester. NTL has supported the Winchester mayor's charity fund for the past four years and the visit was organised at the mayor's personal request.

They were given a tour of the satellite farm which houses more than 30 dishes as well as control rooms which monitor the linking-up of over 150 TV channels.

Cllr Hammerton said: "I am very grateful to NTL Broadcast for its generosity in continuing to support the mayor's charitable fund. It was very reassuring when I first took office to know that I had their financial backing. It's enabled me and my small team of supporters to carry out fundraising events to raise money for my four chosen charities - the Magpie Appeal, SNAPS, Heartstart UK and the Bishop's Waltham and Meon Valley Citizens Advice Bureau."