Mayor for a number of years, Ray Thompson has revealed to the Lithgow Mercury that he will not be running at the next local council election currently set for December this year after a number of delays.

"It's been good really good. I like that it always has trying times and good times. But yeah, you know, during my time on Council, I believe we've accomplished a lot...," Ray said.

Ray said age played a factor in his decision, bringing his 13-year tenure in council to a close where he is hoping to spend more time 'enjoying life'. Preceding his time on council was his wife Ann who served for nine years before him.

"It's time to enjoy a little bit of life but you know, [it] stops you from going away if you're on Council, you're sort of there all the time, especially with the mayorship. You're on call 24/7," he said.

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"It'll be a little bit of a different approach for me and my wife, but it'll give us - if we ever get past this COVID thing - a chance to spend a bit of time together. Do a little bit of recreation."

"We've got some reasonably young grandchildren that we would like to spend a bit of time with. Because time goes very, very quickly and before you know it they're off at school, and they forget their grandpa and grandma..."

Ray went on to list a swathe of accomplishments he's proud of, including - but not limited to - the indoor swimming pool, the Lake Pillans shared pathway, the Clarence transfer system, the Endeavour Fun Park and the advent and rise of both the Lithgow Halloween Festival and Iron Fest as premier dates on the Lithgow event calendar.

But it hasn't been all roses, Ray acknowledged the effect the closures of Wallerawang Power Station and Angus Place Colliery had on the foundation of Lithgow.

"We've also seen the closure of Wallerawang Power Station and Angus Place Colliery. So that was that was certainly a negative. But we look like seeing the repurposing of Wallerawang Power Station now with green spot taking it over and developing it into an industrial site," he said.

"So so there's been some some ups and downs during that time. We're just about to see the highway upgraded between Katoomba and Lithgow, which is another plus."

In his years on Lithgow City Council and as Mayor, Ray saw every aspect of the area, and offered a piece of advice to whoever may don the mayoral robes next.

"Sometimes - it's not easy - but sometimes you've got to make some hard decisions for the good of the community," he said.

"You've got to treat all the community fairly in my belief, that's one thing that you've got to do. You can't take sides, you've got to treat all developers the same, you've got to be very, very consistent in your approach... you can't be inconsistent."

Ray said he is looking forward to his next chapter of life, but will he miss it?

"Yeah, certainly I will, I there's no risk in the world I will - you do certainly get attached to talking about what can happen in the town," he said.

But there's one thing he won't miss. "You get a lot of inquiries about potholes, I can assure you."