Campaigners seek support of council to protect Easthill Field

CAMPAIGNERS who want to see a wildlife-rich field in Frome remain undeveloped have received encouragement in their fight to protect the Easthill site as Frome Town Council provisionally showed support of the area becoming a designated nature reserve and a local wildlife site.

Friends of Easthill Field hope that if the area, found north of the A362 Warminster Road and home to a wide variety of different wildlife and veteran/mature trees (including some rare species), can be designated as such, it would protect the field for future generations to enjoy.

Mendip District Council had originally intended to build up to 77 new houses on the fields but following a public outcry, the council rowed back from their plans and agreed that they would not develop the land for the duration of their administration.

While this was good news for the Friends at the time, Mendip District Council is set to be taken over by the new unitary authority, Somerset Council, on 1st April, and so the group has been seeking support locally for their plans to make the area a nature reserve and a local wildlife site, before they take the case to Somerset Council later this year.

Frome Town Council showed its non-binding support to the Friends’ plans at a meeting of the town council on Wednesday 15th March. The meeting began with representatives from the Friends of Easthill Field giving a short presentation to explain the situation up until now, before the floor was opened up to councillors to ask questions.

One councillor, Nick Dove, suggested that the need for affordable housing, as originally proposed for this site, trumps the need for green spaces locally.

“I know I’m part of a small minority, but I know just how desperate we are for land to build affordable homes on, and this site could be an excellent location to build some high quality, beautiful homes for the people that need it most,” he said.

“Areas around the town are constantly being protected from future development, look at Packsaddle for example. When are we going to find the courage to say that places such as Easthill are lovely to have, but we need to look after our human beings?”

Cllr Mel Usher said that he is fully behind the Friends’ plans but added that cllr Dove’s points are important. He said, “Some people in this chamber have been frightened over the years to say that we need to think more about social housing locally and it’s in the town’s best interest that we have a mixed housing base.”

The Friends explained that the area has been designated by Defra as a biodiversity action plan priority and suggested that the ‘courage’ should come from protecting the land for future generations.

On a post on their social media the Friends said, “We are grateful to Frome town councillors for their kind attention and for allowing us to make this presentation. It was a pleasure to show them the importance of Easthill and it was gratifying to see their informal vote, invited by cllr Mel Usher, which showed a majority in favour of our joint vision for Easthill.

“The beautiful slideshow we presented on the night illustrated the many reasons why this rare, unspoilt piece of Frome’s historic wood pasture and parkland inspires the passionate and committed support of both the community and a growing number of national conservation organisations; these include Natural England, the Somerset Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust, the Woodmeadow Trust, and Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England.

“We aim to move forward and make our presentation to the new unitary authority, Somerset Council. We hope to inspire them to entrust Easthill to Frome Town Council and to work with us to care for Easthill for future generations.”