Midsomer Norton Life Autumn 2023

After the May 4th Local Elections, Midsomer Norton Town Council saw seven new Councillors elected to serve for the next four years. Cllrs Shaun Hughes, Deb Thatcher, Martin Thatcher, Charlotte Lucas, Tim Wells, Alun Pughe and Jemma Griffiths have all joined the four Councillors who remain from the previous term, Cllrs Gordon Mackay, Martyn Plant, Mike Moxham and Lynda Robertson.

At the Council’s first meeting on 15th May, Cllr Mackay was elected as the new Mayor and Cllr Plant as Deputy for the year 23/24. Cllr Lynda Robertson, who served as Mayor for the previous three years, was thanked for her service after ceremonially handing over the Chains of Office.

The new Council resolved to reinstate the Finance and Operations Committee which will be chaired by Cllr Griffiths. The Planning Committee will continue with Cllr Hughes sitting as Chair after Cllr Mackay’s four year tenure.

Keen to address the task of High Street Regeneration, a new Working Party has been set up to develop a short, medium and long-term strategy to ensure the continued success of this key feature of Midsomer Norton.

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Looking beyond the High Street, the Council also created a Town Strategy working party to start developing a vision and strategy to guide the Council over the coming years. The intention is to consult with residents to gather feedback on what residents would like to see.

Locum Town Clerk Paul Russell was thanked for his work before new Locum, Peter Finnis, took over in June. A recruitment process to find a permanent Clerk is well under way now and will be followed by a staff structure review to guide the Council in creating a team to achieve its ambitions for the town.