THE new Mayor of Hereford has a message for the special interest groups he says are "muscling in" over what they think is best for the city - back off and leave it to the ballot box.

"There are lots of ideas but only one mandate, and the electorate has just made it clear who has that mandate.

"I'm willing to work with anyone who has Hereford's best interests at heart, but there's a few out there who seem to think that Hereford's best interests are their own and get pushy about it," said Councillor Chris Chappell, who took office this week.

Nor does the 626th holder of the Mayoralty - one of the oldest civic appointments in the country - want to catch Hereford City Council or its councillors picking fights, among themselves and particularly with Herefordshire Council, for the sake of past glories or single causes.

"We've had a lot of wind-ups over the past year, all of them could have avoided. The city council has to accept it is not the main authority for the area any more, it's a parish council that owns allotments and a few bits of grass. The council, and its members, must look to how influential it, and they, can be within that status," said Coun Chappell.

The city council is rich in heritage and tradition, and nothing should compromise the dignity of either, he said.

There is, said Coun Chappell, a job for the city council working as a kind of scrutiny committee for whatever the county council has planned for Hereford, and keeping tabs on ideas coming in from increasingly active - unelected - regeneration groups.

"But nobody gets to muscle in. These groups have an advisory role only and need to be reminded of that. Hereford is a city of some 57,000 people, that's 57,000 different ideas. If you want to regenerate the city you do it within the rules laid down - if you don't like it stand for election," said Coun Chappell, who hopes to have Hereford following the lead of larger centres like Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle by "regenerating" with one eye on what's gone before.

"A past isn't the price you pay for a future, it's an investment in that future. No-one will seriously say that the Edgar Street Grid can't co-exist with the Cathedral - it's time to stop arguing about what Hereford is and start talking about what Hereford can be."