DOZENS of new homes will be built at the southern edge of Frome following a u-turn by district councillors.
Wainhomes has been attempting to secure planning permission to build 70 houses between Little Keyford Lane and the B3092 The Mount, in the Little Keyford area of Frome.
Mendip District Council’s planning board voted in June to refuse the plans for a second time, with councillors telling the developer that they would accept ‘no less than the best’ for the site.
The board voted in Shepton Mallet lst month (Wednesday 20th July) to reverse this decision after the developer and the local ward member put forward numerous alterations to the plans.
The site is one of three within the Little Keyford area which are allocated for future housing growth within the council’s Local Plan Part II, which was ratified by councillors in December 2021.
Planning board members voted in February to approve plans for 249 homes across two sites either side of the B3092 to the south of the Wainhomes land.
Since June, Wainhomes has amended the plans to reflect the council’s concerns, retaining more of the existing hedgerows on Little Keyford Lane, protecting more of the existing trees and moving a planned pedestrian access to the Marston Trading Estate further to the north.
The developer has also promised the new homes will be heated through “ambient heating” – either air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps” – rather than gas boilers, which central government is currently trying to phase out.
Councillor Helen Kay, whose Frome Keyford ward includes the site, put forward a long string of requests for additional conditions which the developer would have to meet if approval was granted.
She said: “I do feel the developers have come a long way, but I do still have some personal reservations.
“Today Somerset County Council declared an ecological emergency, and really we should be seeing this translated into planning policy, so as many of these hedgerows as possibly can be retained.”
Her proposed conditions included a financial contribution towards a new pedestrian crossing on the B3092, adding to the sums committed by David Wilson Homes from the two sites to the south.
She said: “I don’t want to give the developer any wiggle room.
“Costs will go up. They said at the county council today that small improvement schemes are on hold. These may not get built for another four or five years.”
Councillor John Clarke welcomed the shift away from gas boilers, stating: “I would like to see a condition which is robust in trying to ensure, as far as we are able to, that ambient heating is used on this site.
“It is very welcome to see this coming back. I will applaud the efforts of officers and the developer in making this more acceptable.”
Councillor Tom Killen added: “I think there’s been some good planning work here, and I applaud the developers for coming back.
“It’s in everyone’s interested that if this going to be approved, it’s done sooner rather than later.
“It’s not a perfect scheme, but it’s probably the best we’re going to get in the circumstances.”
After around an hour’s debate, the plans – with cllr Kay’s additional conditions – were approved by a substantial margin.
By local democracy reporter Daniel Mumby.
