Residents and town council urge approval of Frome development plans
The Mayday Saxonvale group wants to do up the Saxonvale brownfield site
Frome residents will find out on Wednesday (August 17) whether alternative plans to redevelop a key area of the town centre will finally be approved.
Mendip District Council has been seeking to redevelop the Saxonvale brownfield site with the Acorn Property Group, twice granting permission for a development of 300 new homes, commercial units and an arts and heritage venue within the ‘western warehouse’.
Alternative proposals put forward by the Mayday Saxonvale group have been steadily gaining in popularity, culminating in hundreds of residents surrounding the site during the May Day bank holiday in a show of support.
Members of the council’s planning board will gather in Shepton Mallet on Wednesday evening to debate the plans, which planning officers have recommended for refusal.
Mayday Saxonvale has responded to the officer’s report, stating that their proposals better reflect Frome’s employment needs as well as the will of local residents.
The Mayday Saxonvale proposals will see a smaller number of homes delivered within the site – 182 rather than 300 – along with a hotel and spa, a music and performance space, a lido and the relocation of one of Frome’s primary schools.
Planning officer Simon Trafford put forward four reasons for recommending that the plans be refused in his report to the board – namely:
- The Local Plan Part II specifies the site should provide a minimum of 250 homes – and too many of the proposed Mayday Saxonvale dwellings will be one-bedroom properties, with “limited information to justify that the proposed mix of land-uses is deliverable and/ or viable”
- The group has provided “insufficient information” about how existing wildlife habitats would be mitigated or how alternatives would be provided on-site
- The group has “failed to demonstrate” that the development would not be “harmful” to the local road network, with no mitigation being agreed
- A suitable legal agreement (known as a Section 106 agreement) has not been agreed to secure the provision of affordable housing, public open space, the footbridge over the River Frome, or contributions to improving roundabouts on the A36
Mayday Saxonvale has responded to each of these reasons in turn, arguing its proposals comply entirely with council policy and planning law.
Frome Town Council has also urged the plans be approved.
"We are hugely disappointed in this recommendation (to refuse the plans)", Frome councillor Steve Tanner says in a statement.
"Over 1,300 residents of Frome sent letters of support for the Mayday Saxonvale application, in itself unprecedented, and it is clear that this is a proposal the town wants and that can be delivered.
"We consider that this is a development that is community driven and puts the needs of the town first and would urge the Planning Board to overturn the officer recommendation and approve the application."
Mayday Saxondale Director Paul Oster said: “The provision of employment space (both commercial and community-owned) in the town centre of Frome is a critical need, and Saxonvale provides the last and final opportunity to meet this need.
“While some employment space has been brought forward in Frome in recent years, and more may potentially be in prospect, this is predominantly edge-of-town sites suitable for industry and similar businesses.
“For maker, creative, and professional services businesses, in which Frome specialises, the town centre is where they want and need to be located.
“This supports the vitality of the town centre and increases weekday footfall, so important in supporting other businesses.
“The supply of housing in Frome within the local plan period has been met and therefore the need for additional dwellings at Saxonvale is not the overriding priority for this site.”
The Local Plan Part I sets a mimimum target of 2,880 dwellings in Frome between 2007 and 2029 – of which 2,716 have either being completed or have planning permission, including the three sites recently approved on the B3092 The Mount and the Keyford Heights development on Sandys Hill Lane.
Addressing the other grounds for objection, Mr Ostler stated: “The sole reason the necessary ecological surveys have not been completed is due to the council, as the landowner, refusing access to our consultants to complete the surveys prior to the submission of the planning application.
“It is clear from the response of Somerset County Council’s highways department that they are satisfied with the proposal, and that they are not expecting mitigation contributions to be agreed prior to consent.
“It is standard practice that an Section 106 agreement be finalised and agreed following a resolution to grant permission and prior to a formal decision being issued. This process was followed for the Acorn application on Saxonvale.”
The council’s asset management group was due to approve the Section 106 agreement between itself, Somerset County Council and Acorn on July 20, which would have allowed construction on the Acorn scheme to finally begin.
However, this decision was deferred to allow the Mayday Saxonvale proposals to be considered, with the group next due to meet on August 24.
The planning board will meet to discuss the plans at the council’s Shepton Mallet headquarters on August 17 from 6pm.
The meeting will be live-streamed via the council’s website, with a special screening taken place at the Silk Mill Studio near the Saxonvale site, organised by Mayday Saxonvale.