FROME Town Council has welcomed plans for 18 social and affordable rent houses to be developed on North Parade car park. Somerset Council will make a final decision about the plans by the end of the summer.
At a town council planning meeting held last month, the committee discussed the application for Agile Homes to develop a mixture of low-carbon two-storey houses and flats on a section of the North Parade car park which is a conservation area, leaving 20 car parking spaces for members of the public.
Councillors supported the plans, while recognising the problem of parking within the town, but agreed that there is a need for more affordable rental properties to help with the ‘housing crisis’ in the area.
Housing crisis
Supporting the planning application, Frome’s deputy mayor, cllr Andy Jones said, “Parking and the way cars move around this town is a really critical issue and needs some attention from Somerset Council to address. Having said that, I am of the opinion that to get this number of starter affordable homes it’s a trade-off but it’s a trade-off I think we should be making because this town does have a housing crisis.
“The number of people in town who are sleeping on sofas because they can’t get council housing. The people who are staying with friends. The people who are having to move miles out of town because they can’t get housing. The pressure on housing is huge. Yes, the pressure on car parking is an issue but I think car parking should be solved in different ways. Either by finding different spaces or reducing car usage, rather than leaving the cars parked in the centre of town when we could be having people living there.”
Concerns
During the meeting, a resident of North Hill Mews raised concerns about impact the development could have on the conservation area and questioned whether an up-to-date study on the car park usage could be carried out given the increase in the number of people who have moved to Frome since the last study was completed.
The resident said, “It’s a conservation area with a lot of history. The proposed development is a big loss to the parking. That car park is very important, there’s a lot of people who park there. It’s just going to create a lot of problems and every Wednesday and Saturday a lot of people use it.”
In response, cllr Fiona Barrows said, “I had a long conversation with a Somerset parking officer about the parking and he did say the car park is very busy, there’s a lot of people who work in offices on the bridge, particularly estate agents, who have permits up there.
“At the moment the same amount of car park is being taken away because they are doing works on the railway and bridge and it’s pushing everyone into Cattle Market. Having said that, this is affordable homes, one and two beds. It’s what we need. They are passive, low carbon I think it’s a fantastic design and ultimately for me, it comes down to this is what Frome needs.
“I think the parking is a real issue and we need to understand it, but that’s also Somerset Council’s issue and they need to have a look at it and do a proper survey. But I really, really like it and I think the low carbon passive use of solar gains is fantastic and it’s what we need. It’s 18 affordable houses that we desperately need in Frome.”
In response to queries about parking, Sam Turner, one of the architects working on the development from Agile Homes, stated that a transport assessment conducted by the developer showed the car park is generally underused and for the last three years, has been occupied by a Covid testing centre, and now Network Rail working on the adjacent railway bridge.
Protecting the trees and conservation area was also a priority if the development goes ahead. Frome Town Council’s planning and development officer said that the trees at North Parade car park, which are under a Tree Protection Order, will be protected and the developer will look to build the surface of the homes on top of the car park, to ensure roots are not damaged by digging into the ground.
The council will now request that highways and conservation officers look at the application along with this, Frome Town Council’s planning and development manager, Jane Llewellyn said, “Our formal comments submitted to Somerset Council are: We will now request for a more up-to-date parking analysis to be carried out to determine the actual current car park usage; Frome Town Council will also need to maintain access through the site to Millennium Green to be able to carry out maintenance work. We would like to see this noted, either on plans or in a planning statement.”