Governance and Public Services
Frome is the largest town within the Somerset non-metropolitan district of Mendip, although the administrative centre is Shepton Mallet. Prior to 1974 it was administered by Frome Urban District.
The town elects three members to Somerset County Council, each from a separate county division. At the last election in June 2009, Liberal Democrats were elected in Frome South and Frome Selwood, and a Conservative in Frome North. Frome also has eleven councillors on Mendip District Council, two from each of the town council wards except for Oakfield, which elects only one. Following elections in 2008, all eleven were Liberal Democrats.
The civil parish of Frome has adopted the style of a town, and there is a Town Council of 17 members. Councillors are split between six wards: three each for the Berkley Down, College, Keyford, Market and Park Wards, and two for the Oakfield Ward. The most recent elections were in May 2011, following which the council is made up of 10 members of the Independents for Frome alliance (IfF), 4 Liberal Democrats, and three Conservatives. Frome has three twin towns: Château-Gontier in France, Murrhardt in Germany and Rabka-Zdrój in Poland.
The town was not represented in Parliament until given one member in the House of Commons by the Reform Act of 1832. Separate representation was abolished for the 1950 general election, with Frome itself being transferred to the Wells division, whilst most of the remainder of the constituency formed the bulk of the new Somerset North constituency. Further changes took place for the 1983 general election when the current Somerton and Frome constituency was created. The current representative is Liberal Democrat MP David Heath CBE, although the seat has been contested by the Conservatives. During the general election of 2010, in which 74% of those eligible turned out to vote, David Heath achieved a relatively slim majority of 1,817 votes (3% of the total), Frome is within the South West England European Parliamentary constituency which elects six MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
The town has a new National Health Service community hospital, operated by Somerset Primary Care Trust, located on the site of the former Showground at Fromefield. The new hospital was opened in 2008, replacing the former Frome Victoria Hospital in Park Road which had been in use since 1901. The nearest general hospital is the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
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