Councillors’ Corner – Cllr Dawn Denton

I HAVE been ‘getting my feet under the table’ in the last ten months in my role representing Frome North (which includes the villages from Packsaddle and College Ward, north through Oldford, Beckington, Rudge, Woolverton, Rode, Laverton, Lullington, Norton St Philip and Farleigh Hungerford).

Along with a heaving inbox, I have enjoyed working on buses, business and books.

I am thrilled the government funding extension has meant that our local buses can continue to run at the current level until the summer. I have enjoyed breakfasts at Edventure with local businesses and the Frome Chamber of Commerce. As a writer and member of the Frome Writers Collective, I am a big advocate of books and reading. A Ukrainian fundraiser project with young local writers has got me very inspired.

Community, communication and careers are a big part of who I am. I love meeting with local organisations and charities about the amazing work they do, to support them to amplify their message, and to connect them with other organisations for greater impact.

In my quest to support the smaller communities around Frome, I am hosting Parish Roadshows. The first will be in the Rode Village Hall on Tuesday 4th April from 4pm to 6pm. Local organisations will be there to offer support from the cost-of-living crisis to care, buses to gardening opportunities. Please pop in to say hello. It will be lovely to see you.

In my volunteering position as an enterprise advisor, I have been delivering talks in local schools about careers and business. It’s great to be back in the classroom!

The incoming unitary authority will offer new, exciting opportunities. No more batting of issues from district to county council, and back again. One council. One website. One phone number. Yes, the phone number is a Taunton number, but most of the council officers who work for us in Frome, live, and work locally. And with a focus on climate, most of my meetings are online, so I will only need to head down the A303 once, maybe twice a month.

My new unitary role will include many more potholes, poo (sewage and dogs) and planning. I look forward to working with my fellow Frome Somerset Councillors on local planning projects out of the Shepton Mallet offices.

Thank you, Frome, for this remarkable privilege to represent you.