The Frome Community Bike Project (FCBP) planning application is now live on the Mendip Planning Portal with the final decision to be announced by Tuesday 28th February.
The FCBP plans include setting up two shipping containers and one log cabin at the existing parking forecourt of the Station Approach Industrial Park. The project will recycle donated bicycles, teach bike maintenance skills, cycle confidence classes, and offer a shared workshop and volunteering opportunities.
People will be able to use the workshop and tools to work on their own bikes, share skills or pay one of the team’s mechanics to do the work; there is an option for everyone. The project is a non-profit organisation set up by a team of volunteers for the benefit of the community.
The FCBP group say, “As soon as we have the go ahead from planning, we’ll be ordering the containers, workshop and tools we need to get started. A team of volunteers are eager to help with setting up on site; if you would like to get involved with setting up the space, please email us at hello@fromebikeproject.org
“Partnerships will be an important part of FCBP’s future. We have been talking to the Critchill Bike Shed, Frome College and Share:Frome about partnership possibilities. If you know any organisations who might like to work with us, please do share our details with them.
“In the meantime, we have applied to two different pots of funding to deliver bike maintenance courses and cycle confidence classes around Frome. If we are successful, we will be popping up all over Frome offering remote cycling support. Watch this space!”
Local people were invited to send in comments about the planning application with the majority of comments in support.
One comment read, “I fully support this application. It’s a great project and a perfect site near to the station. The impact on neighbours is negligible with such low buildings and great to see use of a bit of messy car park in such a positive way.”
Another person commented, “I support this proposal, which will make much better use of an essentially derelict site, and benefit an important community project, to the benefit of the town.”
One comment raised concerns over how close the development would be to nearby houses.
The comment reads, “The site is within a few metres of neighbouring homes. The proposed development is close enough to raise concerns about privacy, visual impact, and noise from the cycle workshop. The suggestion that noise is ‘unlikely’ to be a problem because it will be limited by insulation and by the prevailing wind is not an adequate safeguard.
“We are concerned also about the lack of security lighting in this isolated spot (for people as well as property). The distance to WC and other facilities is a concern. There is no proposal for landscaping/ boundary treatment and no indication of provision for site-specific waste. If this development is a satellite to the main unit, then it should be sited much closer to it.”
To view the plans in full search 2022/2301/FUL on Mendip District Council’s Planning Portal.
