Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council. The village falls within the Non-metropolitan district of Mendip, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Frome Rural District, which is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism. Somerset County Council is responsible for running the largest and most expensive local services such as education, social services, libraries, main roads, public transport, policing and fire services, trading standards, waste disposal and strategic planning. The village is part of the 'Ammerdown' electoral ward. The ward stretches north to Hemington also visiting Kilmersdon. The ward has a total population at the 2011 census of 2,371. It is also part of the Somerton and Frome county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Religious sites The village's most notable feature is St Andrew's Church, a Grade I listed building praised by Pevsner and predominantly from the late 15th century. The tower, which reaches , dates from the mid 16th century. The centre of the chapel is dominated by an equestrian statue of Edward Horner (who fell at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917) by Sir Alfred Munnings. A number of benches are Jacobean. There is a large piece of embroidery in the pre-Raphaelite manner, made by the Mrs Horner who was a friend of Burne-Jones. There is also a memorial, designed by Edwin Lutyens, to Raymond Asquith, who died in France in 1916. The churchyard is the last resting place of the poet Siegfried Sassoon and the Roman Catholic priest and writer Ronald Knox. There is a small Roman Catholic chapel in the grounds of the Manor House. Tourism Mells was rated as among the "20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2020. The publication recommends that visitors "marvel at the 15th-century New Street". Notable people Raymond Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, formerly FCO and SIS (retired); hereditary peer. Lives in Mells area. Sir Frank Beauchamp, owner of coalmines in the Somerset coalfield was born in Mells. Tim Burt, British geographer and