Name
Matt Harrison
Which ward do you represent?
East ward
Any committee roles?
Chair of the Town Council
Tell us a little bit about yourself (100 words max)
I’ve lived in Shepton for 17 years. I’m from Bristol originally and Kelly, my wife is from Cornwall so we chose somewhere in between to bring up our family. I have two teenage sons, one’s at Whitstone, the other at Strode College. I do ‘councilloring’ in the afternoons and evenings. In the mornings, I run a mobile coffee shop in Bristol.
What motivated you to become a councillor?
I stumbled into the local council by seeing the need for increased investment in the town when the old skate park rotted away. Once the charity my friends and I set up to rebuild it completed the project, I kept on seeing other things that needed support. There are so many residents in the town passionate about making things better, I see the role of the Town Council as supporting them as much as possible so together we can improve the town.
What do you enjoy most about the role?
Seeing plans come to fruition! Take the new play park; I worked on that for 5 years. Understanding the views of different residents, designing the project and then fund-raising all takes an enormous amount of time and effort but it’s satisfying to see the end result.
What’s the most frequent issue you deal with in your ward?
There honestly isn’t one single thing. It could be anything!
Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about becoming a councillor?
What do you want your ‘future legacy’ to be; what do you want to look back on in the future and think “yes, that made a positive difference to the town”. If you want to improve Shepton, the Council is a vehicle that can help you to do that. Contact any councillor and have a chat with them about what it involves
How can people contact you if they have an issue to raise?
Phone, email, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Email is best; it makes it easy for me to forward queries to the relevant people