A woman from Yorkshire who originally came to Bridgend with her family toffee business will soon be taking over from Tim Wood as mayor of Bridgend Town Council next month. Freya Bletsoe is set to be the town's first female mayor since 2012, and is hoping that she can bring something different to the role.
Freya caught up with WalesOnline to discuss her hopes for the new role, and noted that there were a few issues in Bridgend which she wants to sort out. There are a number of reasons why Freya, who is also councillor for Oldcastle Ward, wanted to take on the new role-from wanting to improve the success of enterprises in the town to encourage more young people to live there and stay there.
She will also continue to be a Bridgend County Borough councillor which is also for Oldcastle Ward, where she is also the Chair of Scrutiny for Social Services. This mix of experience has given Freya the confidence that being part of the town council will give her more scope to put through different motions.
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She said: "It's a very different situation at the town council because the independents are in control. So we can focus on things like environmental issues when looking at tenders, which was a motion I put forward a year or so ago."
Freya grew up in Wakefield, but never set out with the intent of getting into local politics- she studied in London before becoming a showbiz journalist at the Mirror. After a stint of time spent in the UK's capital, she realised that the big city was not for her any more, and wanted to do something different.
When Freya's parents sold up and moved over to Wales, she made the decision to move to Bridgend and start a new life. She also met her husband, Steven Bletsoe who was mayor of Bridgend between 2021-2022 when she settled in the town as well.
Her dedication to working in Bridgend started when she ran her sweet shop, Ella Riley Toffee up until 2017 - which was when she and her husband's responsibilities changed up and they decided to close down and focus on other things.
For Freya, this was her chance to do something new. She explained: "It's very hard to do business for a long time in Bridgend. It was our decision to close. We loved doing it but is very hard to continue running a shop for a very long time.
"When it comes to politics I think I kind of fell into it by accident to be honest. I got so frustrated with the negative aspect of it and the way that the town has been run down.
"I thought it was something I would like to get into to do something about so I became a Bridgend County Borough councillor so it developed from there, and it was about all those little things that I wanted to change that you can't do unless you're in power which is what I'm hoping to do now."
Considering what she would most like to change about the way the town council works in Bridgend right now, Freya said: "We haven't really a grounded touch with people for a long time because of Covid. I'd like to bring in a monthly meet the mayor event. It is special to meet the mayor, and have afternoon tea and things. Those are the things that people really value, and it would be great to do it with lots of different types of groups.
"It's having that leadership role, and showing people that the mayor is accessible for them. Often people think that you're in an ivory tower and that's just not the case.
"As mayor you are a public figure and people do sort of put you on that pedestal, they see you as the head of the town and it is important to me. It is about allowing people understand the role and getting to know the person behind that role. It's also about getting things back up and running properly again after Covid, for me, and getting back that normality. The cost of living crisis is impacting people, so we've got to think about that."
Being the first female mayor since 2012 - when Clare J Lewis was in the role - Freya is now hoping that another female being mayor of the town will switch things up a bit. She said: "Hopefully it'll bring a bit of a different way of doing things because it's very different, the way women do things to men sometimes. I'm hoping to introduce some fresh, new ideas to the role as well because it's been very same-y for the last couple of years."
When asked about Bridgend's town centre which has been struggling for shops in recent years, Freya said: "The amount of shops on the high street is certainly something that we've kept an eye on. There is a councillor called David Uwin who's been a town councillor for over 40 years now and he's excellent.
"And every six months since 2008, he's been doing a count, off his own back, as to how many shops are open in town. He goes round and counts what's open and what's closed and reports it back to Bridgend County Borough Council because it's their responsibility, not ours.
"But I think personally, a mayor in a leadership role should be writing to the businesses locally and saying if we've got an opportunity, and would they like to come and open up a shop here. And we need to look at different ways, and more innovative ways that we can bringing different enterprises to the town."
Freya also wants to put more of an emphasis on creating more of a future for the younger generation in Bridgend. She said: "What we want is for young people to come to the town and stay there.
"One of the things I've been looking at setting up is an enterprise hub, and I've been speaking to Bridgend College because they've got some really exciting plans to bring the college into the town. I've had a chat with the principal of the college about a month ago, seeing if they would consider an enterprise hub as an extension of that.
"I've started to make moves to do these sort of things to bring more enterprise through and into our town because we've got a great town here. And we've got a real wealth of fantastic people doing brilliant things and I think that needs emphasising and spotlighting rather than the disappointing things."
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