Guest post from Councillor Anita Collier: ''My interest in representing the people of this community was spurred on purely because of my passion for the town.''

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Councillor Anita Collier of Frome Town Council became a councillor due to her great love and admiration for Frome. Anita had been impressed by recent council activity and stood for election in May 2018, and was elected as deputy mayor in 2019 before becoming mayor in May 2020. She is also a face of NALC’s Make a Change campaign, encouraging people to become councillors and champion change in their communities.

I first became a Councillor in 2019 after attending a meeting in my local town, calling out for women to stand for election.

I had never before been involved in any council work, or indeed anything to do with politics. My interest in representing the people of this community was spurred on purely because of my passion for the town. I have lived here since 1964, and apart from a ten year break in London, have always thrown myself into community activities here, having sat on many committees, been a governor of the local college, chair of the PTA and chair of trustees of a local breast cancer charity.

I love this town and everything it has to offer, having seen it grow almost unrecognisably from a small market town to an exceptional model of a well run community with compassion at its heart.

My overriding desire to be involved came both from the opportunity to ‘give back’ and because of the success achieved by the ‘Independents for Frome’ who created an apolitical council concentrating solely on the growth and success of the town and its community.

On being selected, the work of seventeen Councillors bonding as a team, albeit with many differing views and opinions, began. With each new administration the process repeats itself but hopefully with an ongoing continuity and continuous learning.

Setting the strategy for our term in office was crucial, and needed to be undertaken as a priority. Then, it was all about everyone finding their areas of passion, and working with the expertise of the staff to help bring the ideas to fruition.

I have taken roles as Deputy Mayor, Mayor, Deputy Leader, and now Leader of the Council during my four years in office, and I still have four years to run. The work is challenging and often requires an ability to juggle priorities in order to achieve a good work life balance. Having said that, the buzz of knowing that we can make a difference, that we are doing the best we can for the town and that each of us, because of our life experience, has something to offer (however little), makes it all so worthwhile.

My colleagues are made up of ten women and seven men who vary enormously in experience, and range from mid twenties to me as the eldest, at 75yrs. It doesn’t really matter about age or qualifications, it’s much more about commitment and dedication to the task, but as unpaid volunteers, we can only give what we can. There’s always help at hand from other government bodies, particularly NALC who are there to advise and support when needed.

I have found out so much about my town that I didn’t know and constantly feel as though I’m on a rollercoaster of learning. It’s ok not to know everything, especially if you work with good staff and a supportive group of Councillors. You can always ask.


If you're interested in becomming a councillor, the NALC have lots of resources here about the election process, details of the role and what to expect.