The meeting opened with thanks to our outgoing Town Clerk Paul Wynne, who has just retired after 18 years at FTC. Paul once told me that he’s never been interested in the title of Town Clerk, but always in the opportunity to make a real difference in Frome – to this community and the town he raised his family in. That, I think, sums up his time here perfectly. He’s always looked beyond the job description, both his own as clerk and ours as a council, to make things happen here that really matter. Paul’s deputy, our new Acting Town Clerk Peter Wheelhouse will lead the team until recruitment takes place early next year. It was also a good moment to thank another FTC and Independents for Frome (IfF) stalwart, Mel Usher, who retired in July, having served as a councillor for over a decade. Mel was a brilliant instigator of initiatives, and there are so many things in Frome that wouldn’t be here without him. And it was a pleasure to welcome our newest IfF councillor Lyndsey Mayhew, who won Mel’s Market Ward seat earlier this month seat with an impressive 55% of the vote, making FTC one of very few councils with a majority of women – and still fully independent.
As always, the discussion was wide-ranging, covering changes to parking in Somerset, and colleagues’ concerns about the impact on Frome, and plans for developing the riverside. There were updates from Cllrs Adam Boyden and Dawn Denton from Somerset Council and a plea from Lenka Grimes of Fair Frome that we work together to combat a troubling rise in hate crime and racism, as well as tackling issues with housing for families.
As a town council we don’t have many statutory responsibilities, but as such a large town council, we take our role in advocacy and lobbying seriously and our voice is louder. We also know from recent experience working with Fusion Frome to improve the leisure centre that we’re even more effective when we can work closely with our colleagues at Somerset Council and with our MP Anna Sabine.
I’m also meeting with town council colleagues in Yeovil, Taunton and Bridgwater soon to share ideas and strategies. With the launch of our new participatory platform in January 2026, there will be even more ways to make your voice heard and feed into council activity.
Agreeing the Council Plan is the most important decision we make as councillors – and we agreed to update it before setting our new budget and work programme for next year. All the current councillors (except Lyndsey!) were elected in 2022, at the tail end of the pandemic. There was upheaval as we switched to a new unitary authority and at our very first meeting as a group of councillors, we had to make a huge decision about whether to step in to save Badgers Hill from repossession the following day.
We’ve needed to adjust in light of a financial emergency at county level, which offers enormous challenges, but also opportunities. We’ve grown, and we’re in a state of transition as an organisation. And times are hard; people are struggling and we want to help.
We can’t just fill the gaps that have emerged from cuts to local services; we aren’t resourced to, but how can we ensure we make a positive difference, both in the short and long term? How can we maintain our spark, our sense of possibility and innovation? The new Council Plan creates a roadmap for how we can be most effective, for the rest of our term and beyond the next town council elections in May 2027.
Councillors voted unanimously to assist the team at the Cheese and Grain with an exciting project that ticks lots of the boxes in our council plan: supporting this important venue to thrive with a long-awaited extension and increase its environmental sustainability with new solar panels. The funding has been secured for the project from the Rural Prosperity Fund but won’t be paid in time for the preferred works start date, so FTC are providing a bridging loan of £38,000, to be repaid by the end of the financial year. We’ll also benefit from an uplift in income from the improved solar panels, so it represents a great deal for Frome as well as the Cheese and Grain itself.
I left the room for the next agenda item, because councillors were discussing a proposed increase to my stipend as chair and leader. I’ve watched the meeting on YouTube and would like to say a huge thank you to my colleagues, and the Somerset Councillors present for their kind words and for supporting a temporary increase to my allowance, in recognition of the significant time commitment that comes with being Chair and Leader of FTC at this very busy period of transition. It is a temporary increase to compensate for my loss of earnings, and will mean that I won’t have to juggle quite so many things during this exciting but nonetheless intense time!
Other decision taken tonight include adopting the Annual report , recruiting an Acting Deputy Town clerk and electing Lyndsey to the committees And then home (for Celebrity Traitors!)
The next council meeting is on Wednesday 14 January at 7pm. I’ve covered a lot here, I hope, but you can watch the whole meeting on our YouTube channel and find the agenda and all papers here.
If there’s anything you want to discuss with us, please do join us at a council meeting or email info@frometowncouncil.gov.uk; we are listening.
