Local councillor Sir Bill Taylor explores his prominent, successful and varied career in a new book.

Our local councillors come from people close to their electorate: family, friends, neighbours, work mates, people down your street. They spend multi billions of our money annually on schools, housing, social services, roads, waste management, sport and leisure, environmental and public health, planning amongst many other day-to-day matters vital to us all. But what do we really know about our elected representatives and how they work, what good they do, and what really happens behind the scenes? One in a Million does just that, taking you into the office of Sir Bill Taylor.

Sir Bill Taylor has almost fifty years of successful experience in public service as a full-time youth and community worker, manager and trainer professionally and as a Councillor, Committee chair, Executive Member, Mayor and deputy Mayor, Deputy Leader and Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council. He was constituency agent to Cabinet member Jack Straw for over thirty years. They transformed how Councils and constituency MPs communicated and engaged with communities. Many things he introduced in communities, education, schools, colleges, finance and social mobility were visited by prominent national figures and widely replicated nationally as good practice. During these times his work has been described as “unique unparalleled elsewhere” and “in a league of their own”.

Still based in Blackburn, Sir Bill Taylor states: "At any one time across the UK there are over 100,000 elected councillors. On average they serve for a little less than ten years, this means in most of our lives, over 900,000 different folk will act as our local elected members! They will spend billions of our money on our behalf. That’s nearly one million people from all kinds of backgrounds, with all kinds of experiences and all kinds of aspirations. As in any human activity there is not one way of doing things, no right way or wrong way, no workshop manual. Their story is seldom told. I was one of these elected members for twenty-five years and strived to always do my best and it was completely enjoyable. This is my story, the story of one of those elected, just one in a million."

One in a Million: THAT Bill Taylor is published on the 28th November by Troubador Publishing.