Being a councillor is hard work and a big responsibility – sometimes it drives me mad! But it is exciting and incredibly fulfilling.
I first became a district councillor in 2007, when a friend of mine said: “You’d be great; it’s only a couple of evenings a month!”
Fast forward to 2025 and it has become a 24/7 passion, and I find myself having been leader of the council for nearly six years.
I am proud of our little council, which does big things; we have frozen our share of council tax bills for 12 years while still delivering great services.
We have funded lots of new community projects, such as youth centres, a theatre, community orchards, improvements to village halls, new roads and car parks, and genuinely affordable homes reserved for local people. We also have a specific campaign supporting hedgehogs, voted for by residents.
I served for eight years on Cambridgeshire County Council, where I was the Lead Member for Adult Social Care and had the most amazing chance to trial my vision for a whole new, very local, method of supporting people in our communities.
The ‘Neighbourhood Cares’ work endures to this day and I hope can become part of the nationwide solution to the challenges we face in social care.
Being a councillor is hard work and a big responsibility – sometimes it drives me mad! But it is exciting and incredibly fulfilling.
To be the representative of the people is a special thing, and when times are tough, as they can be, I always remember that it is the people that put me there and that I exist to speak up for them. What an amazing privilege!
A version of this case study was first published in the LGA’s first magazine.