Charity raises funds for legal challenge to Selwood Garden Community plans

A charity has raised over £3,800 to fund a legal letter to the planning inspector, urging rejection of the controversial proposed Selwood Garden Community development.

The Somerset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has raised the funds for the letter, which the charity plans to send ahead of the public inquiry starting on 29th July.

The Selwood Garden Community application includes 1,700 homes, two care homes, 6.7 hectares of employment land, a mixed-use local centre, a primary school and open spaces on greenfield land on the edge of Frome.

After lengthy deliberations in December, county councillors voted that they were ‘mindful to refuse’ the application and had been due to ratify their decision on 4th February. However, the day before the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner confirmed the decision will now be made at government level.

Manager of the Somerset branch of CPRE, Becky said, “In our experience, a legal letter from a respected planning lawyer is the most effective way to get our arguments heard. But sadly, lawyers are very expensive. We are a small charity with limited funds, and we work across the whole of Somerset, so we thought it was worth trying to see if the people of Frome would be prepared to help with these specific costs.

“Within a few weeks, we had reached our target of £3,000 and raised £3,825, which is incredible. We are so grateful to everyone who has contributed. It is very pleasing that almost 100 people have donated; it just goes to show how people care about their countryside and how they really are appalled at the huge scale of this proposed development.”

The proposed development has also been objected to by many members of the community including the Stop Selwood Garden Community campaign group, who have been fighting to save the greenfield land.

“We would like to thank everyone who donated and also to thank Stop SGC who shared our appeal with their supporters,” said Becky.

“We are keeping the fundraiser open if anyone still wishes to donate. CPRE Somerset intends speak on the first day of the public inquiry in July. This means that our staff and volunteers will need to spend considerable time gathering evidence and preparing for this, so any extra donations above the target amount will be used to cover our costs for this work.”

After being ‘minded refuse’ the application in December, Somerset Councillors voted to remain neutral in their stance at the inquiry in July.

Frome Town Council has changed its stance on the development and withdrawn its opposition.

The venue for the inquiry is due to be confirmed before mid-July.

To view or support the fundraising page, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/savefrome

Pictured: The land earmarked for development