Meet the Local Hero: Ellen van Selm, merging the best of the local and the European politics
In this edition of Local Heroes, we speak to Ellen van Selm, Mayor of Purmerend (The Netherlands), about the city’s challenges, her goals and achievements as a mayor, as well as what connects her town to Brussels.
A city shaped by water and growth
Purmerend is a town of 100,000 inhabitants just north of Amsterdam, part of the city’s wider metropolitan area. Its roots, however, lie in a very different landscape.
“Purmerend used to be a small market town in a very watery area,” van Selm explains. “Farmers from the surrounding wetlands came here to trade their agricultural products, livestock and fish.” When the lakes and wetlands around it were reclaimed, the town became an important food-producing region for Amsterdam and later, thanks to its proximity to the capital, an increasingly attractive place to live.
That proximity still shapes daily life. A steady flow of commuters travels between Purmerend and Amsterdam, and the town has grown rapidly since the 1970s. For van Selm, that growth is also the municipality’s biggest challenge today. “We also want to remain a town where people know each other, where there is room for nature, culture and community, and where people feel at home,” she says. “Our biggest challenge is not simply to build more houses, but to grow in a way that strengthens the quality of life and preserves the identity of Purmerend and [the nearby municipality], Beemster.”
In the Netherlands, mayors are not elected
Being a mayor in the Netherlands, van Selm points out, differs from the role in many other European countries. Unlike many of her European colleagues, she was not elected by residents but appointed by the Crown. Dutch municipalities are governed jointly by the mayor, the Aldermen, who serve in the Netherlands as the executive and administrative officers of a local municipality, and an elected city council, each with distinct responsibilities.
“I don’t have my own election programme that I want to implement,” she says. “I see my role as bringing people together, creating connections, and making sure that the interests of our residents are heard in our democratic process.”
Three initiatives stand out for van Selm. The first is Purmerend’s regional deal, a genuine partnership between the municipality, the national government in The Hague, and local NGOs, all investing together in the region’s future.
The second is the town’s children’s mayor programme. “It gives children in Purmerend a real voice and teaches them that they can make a difference,” she says. “My aim is to make sure that their voices are heard as well.”
The third is safety, a legally assigned part of her role as mayor. Purmerend has worked to make neighbourhoods safer following incidents involving explosions, and to make public spaces feel safer for women.
From Purmerend to Brussels, and back
Van Selm’s local role and her European work, as a member of the Dutch delegation to the European Committee of the Regions and of its COTER Commission are, in her words, “two sides of the same coin.”
“What I experience locally informs my work in Brussels, and what I learn in Brussels comes back to my municipality.” Through COTER, she is closely involved in discussions on the future of the EU budget and cohesion policy, topics that can sound abstract, but which she sees translated directly into local impact. In Purmerend, European Social Fund support has helped sustain the municipality’s labour market programme, run through a local social development organisation, giving it continuity from year to year and room to innovate.
That two-way exchange extends beyond the Committee of the Regions. Van Selm also takes part in European city networks such as the New Towns Alliance, exchanging experience with towns facing similar pressures around housing, the energy transition, the labour market and social inclusion. As Purmerend is part of Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), Van Selm is also CEMR Spokesperson on Housing.
“What works in one city can inspire solutions in another,” she says. “Policy becomes meaningful when it reaches people and communities locally and local experiences become even more valuable when we share them with other cities and use them to shape European policy.”
Staying close, looking outward
Asked what matters most for a mayor today, van Selm points to balance: staying close to residents while keeping a broader view. “You need to stay close to your residents, listen to them, understand what makes your municipality unique, and protect that sense of identity. But at the same time, don’t only look inward, ask what your municipality can contribute to the country, to Europe, and to the other regions and networks you work in.”
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Pumerend is a member of the CEMR National Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).
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