Frome For All, which campaigns for a town centre that better meets the needs of all members of the local community, has welcomed the news that a developer has put forward proposals for the regeneration of Frome town centre with a development at Saxonvale.
Phil Whitmarsh, a former mayor of Frome who is supporting the Frome For All campaign said, “Our group has been campaigning for just over two years, but some of our supporters have been working on these issues for very many years. We are pleased that at last there are proposals coming forward to bring new shops, hundreds of jobs and regeneration to our town centre.
“Saxonvale offers our last opportunity to significantly reduce the loss of trade and improve town centre shopping for local people.
“We believe there is a strong case for a medium sized supermarket in the town centre to bring shoppers back and to help attract other new shops that would also help prevent many trips to other towns.”
Phil said that Frome For All will review the proposal against the groups five key priorities which are:
1. More of the shops people want, need and use most often in the town centre to ensure, as far as possible, that local shopping needs are met locally.
2. To help the environment by significantly reducing the number of car journeys to other towns and out of town supermarkets for day to day shopping needs.
3. Improved traffic management within Frome and a more pedestrian friendly town centre.
4. To help build a stronger community and enhance the viability of the whole town centre by increasing the number of local people who regularly use the town centre.
5. To ensure a well designed and well landscaped development that links well with the existing parts of the town centre.
Spokeswoman for Frome For All, Valerie Ley said, “We are pleased that at long last there are proposals to improve shopping in Frome town centre.
“Our group believes that there are very significant social, community, economic and environmental benefits of bringing shoppers back to the town centre, and significantly reducing Frome’s current heavy reliance on out of town stores and shopping trips to other towns.
“A development of a town centre supermarket with a range of other shops could deliver significant benefits to local people and to our existing town centre shops. These include free parking, increased footfall and hundreds more jobs in the town centre.
“In response to the new proposals for Saxonvale, Frome For All is offering all local people a free copy of it’s leaflet titled ‘A Brighter Future For Frome’. This can be requested via the group website www.fromeforall. org or by phoning or texting 07714 460801.
Pictured: Frome For All supporters on a site visit to Saxonvale
