Trowbridge mayor urges councillors to do what’s best for the town

Cllr Stephen Cooper said that despite the prospect of a General Election on Thursday, July 4 and elections in May 2025 councillors should instead focus on doing what is best for Trowbridge.

Speaking at Trowbridge Town Council’s annual meeting on Tuesday, May 21, he said: “Over the course of the next twelve months we shall see both a General Election and Local Elections here in Wiltshire.

“I am sure these will be rightly hard fought by all political parties at both a national and local level. However, I would implore everyone to remember that we are only here in this chamber because we want the best for our town.

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Trowbridge Mayor Cllr Stephen Cooper with Deputy Mayor Cllr Stewart Palmen. Image: Trevor Porter 77079-4 (Image: Trevor Porter)

“As town councillors, we are all unpaid volunteers who give up our time freely because we each have a vision for Trowbridge and the desire to work towards that vision.

“We may disagree over what that vision is, or the best way to achieve it, but I do truly believe that none of us want to do this town deliberate harm.

“So my plea is this - in what gives all the indications of being a fairly febrile year in both national and local politics - let's take our partisan party agendas out of this chamber and spend the next twelve months trying to work together to do what's best for the residents of Trowbridge.”

Cllr Cooper was elected mayor for a second term, with Trowbridge Town Council leader Stewart Palmen as his deputy mayor.

He added: “Obviously, my learning curve in my first weeks this second time round will be less steep, and I intend to take full advantage of that and hit the ground running.

He continued: “I want to continue, even expand, some of the community and voluntary sector engagement initiatives that were started last year.

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“I want to engage more with our Chamber of Commerce to help promote Trowbridge's economy and business potential. We have a demonstrably healthy entrepreneurial spirit here in Trowbridge that we need to encourage, harness and build on.

“We need to put the revitalisation, rejuvenation and reinvention of our high street economy front and centre on our agenda in order to make Trowbridge a more vibrant town, We can do this but we need to work in close partnership with our business community to do it well.

“I want to find ways to promote Trowbridge's prime position as a base from which to explore the south-west of England.

“Finally, as I look around this chamber tonight, I see a town council that is predominantly middle aged, but also overwhelmingly male and white. In this day and age this is neither acceptable nor representative.

“I've already mentioned that I've found a wealth of goodwill and community spirit out there in our town; but despite this, too many of our residents are still disengaged with us here in this chamber."

He added: “We need to reach out and help those disconnected from us realise that far from being an irrelevance, or worse still an obstacle, in their lives, being involved in community activities, even their local council, is a positive and affirmative way to help shape their town's future.

"So, I want to do what I can to engage more young people in our community with this council. I want more women to feel that their voice can and will be heard in this chamber and I want above all to encourage members of our ethnic minorities to take their rightful place around this table with us.”