Plans for new homes in Frome called "inadequate" as councillors defer decision for or against
Three separate planning applications have been submitted to Mendip Council for homes either side of the B3092
A decision on plans for more than 300 new homes in Frome has been pushed back until next year, after councillors called them inadequate and asked for more information.
Three separate planning applications have been put forward by Wainhomes and David Wilson Homes to build either side of the B3092 in the Little Keyford area of the town.
Mendip District Council’s planning board met to debate the plans on Monday evening (26/07), with officers recommending that two of the three applications be approved.
But after three hours’ debate, the board voted unanimously to delay a decision on all three sites for up to six months.
Under the proposals, Wainhomes will deliver 70 homes with access from Little Keyford Lane, with green space and an attenuation pond being provided at the south-eastern corner of the site.
This development’s spine road will connect up to the David Wilson Homes site on the western side of The Mount, providing a route between the two main roads in and out of Frome for each housing estate.
The site on the western site of The Mount will provide 131 homes, with a further attenuation pond and green space at its southern edge.
The final parcel of land, on the eastern side of The Mount, will provide 118 homes (reduced from 124 in the original plans) – bringing the total number of homes to 319.
The access road to this last site will be staggered to the south of the western development to prevent congestion or crashes.
Dr Pat Smith of Frome Civic Society said all three plans should be turned down because the master-plan showing how the sites would compliment each other was not up to scratch.
“The management agreement between the developers fails on every count," she said.
"It offers no broad vision for a joined-up community, no clear design strategy for buildings or street-scapes, and no coherent access plan.
“It simply strings together the three separate housing estates – it is the most threadbare and perfunctory document.
She also called the plan to build using red brick "completely alien", with the rest of Frome built in the town's native limestone.
Joe Hannam Maggs, whose copyrighting business is based on Sandys Hill Lane near the site, said the plans should be altered to protect the character of Little Keyford Lane.
He said: “All access should be from the B3092 main road.
"Little Keyford Lane has important public amenity value and must not be allowed to become a rat run.
“The impact to the River Frome will be significant and the current drainage plans are inadequate.
"This will cause local and downstream flooding, and impact river quality.
“The whole site currently lies outside of the Frome development limit, which was set to prevent ill-planned urban sprawl like this.”
After nearly three hours’ of debate, the board voted unanimously to defer a decision on all three applications for up to six months, to give the developers time to put forward an alternative master-plan for the area.