Frome Town Council could apply to become a ‘council of sanctuary’, joining a national movement of local councils committed to being welcoming and fair to everyone in the community.
The proposal was introduced at a recent Community and Place Committee meeting. It was put forward by Frome Welcomes Refugees, which was set up in early 2022 to support refugees and those in the town who are hosting them.
A member of the group, Jean Bolton, said the status would ‘identify and recognise’ the work already being done in Frome to support refugees and asylum seekers.
The proposal will now be taken to a full town council meeting for ratification.
Jean said, “Frome Welcomes Refugees has no formal status. We try to hold ourselves as a body that advocates for fairness in treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and raise a voice in the town for that.”
If approved, the application would be made through the City of Sanctuary Local Authority Network, which began in Sheffield in 2005 and now includes hundreds of community groups, schools, councils, universities, theatres and galleries across the UK.
There are currently 100 councils with ‘council of sanctuary’ status.
Jean said, “It is a sort of kite mark in a way; there are no commitments. Frome Town Council has to put in a proposal.
“It doesn’t have any financial commitments other than it costs £150 for three years and then you get reassessed and it is renewed. It is an opportunity to get access to new ideas, benchmarking, networking with other councils. It’s an opportunity to add a voice around refugees and fairness and asylum seekers and it seems to open up new channels of funding. Taunton have used their status to apply for new funding.
“All we are here to say is that we would be delighted if you consider applying to become a council of sanctuary. It would really just endorse what we are already doing.”
Supporting the proposal, the chair of the meeting, Cllr Carla Collenette, said the status would be a visible statement at a time of increased racism and polarisation, similar to the council’s support for White Ribbon.
However, Cllr Nick Dove questioned whether the move could be seen as ‘virtue signalling’ and asked what impact it would have for the 149 displaced people Frome supports.
He said, “I was asked by some people last weekend, ‘Aren’t we a town council that’s good at virtue signalling?’ and this is virtue signalling. Isn’t this something that could be interpreted that way? I just had a look at the other cities of sanctuary and towns and we are the smallest by a long way in terms of population.”
Cllr Andy Jones also raised concerns about the council ‘diluting the impact of statements’ if flags were raised too frequently.
In response, Jean said Frome is “always leading as a small town” and “punching above its weight”.
“We’re small but we show other small towns that we can still do these things,” she said.
Backing the proposal, Frome’s Mayor, Cllr Anita Collier, said it would add weight to the council’s support for minority groups in the town and demonstrate its ‘compassionate heart’.
