THE LIBERAL Democrats won all three of Frome’s seats on Somerset County Council in the local council elections last week. But the Conservatives narrowly retained control of the council, winning an overall majority of just one.
In Frome, Alvin Horsfall has been elected for Frome East, Sam Phripp has been elected for Frome North, and Derek Tanswell was elected in the Frome West division.
Overall the Conservatives have retained control of the council. They won 28 seats (down 7 from 2009), Liberal Democrats 18 (down 3 from 2009), Labour 3 (up 1 from 2009), UKIP 3 (0 seats in 2009) and Independents 2 (0 seats in 2009). One division (Coker) will be contested at a later date due to the death of a candidate.
Frome’s three councillors have re-iterated their determination to represent the town in the county council, and make sure Frome gets its fair share of funding.
Alvin Horsfall, re-elected for Frome East, and says that the main priority of the Frome councillors is to get the best for their town. He said, “I think with Frome, being so far away from Taunton, it’s always been difficult whatever the administration. We just have to keep Frome at the forefront for any resources available.
“I think we [the LibDems] will obviously talk to each other, as a group we have group priorities, but essentially I was elected to look after the people of my division.”
Aged just 21, newly elected councillor Sam Phripp is researching if he is the youngest councillor to ever be elected to Somerset County Council. While he believes it is important to get younger people involved in the council, he says this is also true for any group that is under-represented. He said, “I think it’s a key thing, we need more different people getting involved – the more different people we have the better chance we have of representing everyone.”
Derek Tanswell says his priority is to continue with his campaign to get a doctor on call overnight in Frome. He said, “Obviously we will represent our divisions, but what we need to do is to work together to get the best results for Frome.”
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