Frome Town Council sets budget and outlines priorities

Frome Town Council has agreed its budget for the coming year, setting out how it will deliver the priorities in its Council Plan 2025–27.

Councillors voted by majority to an increase of 6.8% to the town council’s share of council tax for 2026-27.  For 89% of residents, this represents an average increase of 32p per week, or a total cost of £5.05 per week.

The precept of £3,023,126 includes £90,000 allocated for play equipment, £67,000 for Market Yard toilets, £80,000 for community grants and over £1.8 million on staffing costs.

The council says the budget and council strategy have both been informed by residents’ priorities, gathered via last year’s ‘Building a Picture of Frome’ project, surveys, pop-up engagement events and other channels of communication.   

Leader and Chair of Frome Town Council, Cllr Fiona Barrows, said, “We know how tough things are for many people right now, and we don’t take any increase lightly. We have gone through every single line of this budget with real care, knowing that residents are under real pressure. There have been detailed discussions about areas of work and every pound we are proposing to spend. We have done everything we can to keep our costs down – budgeting carefully, responsibly, and compassionately – with the long-term interests of Frome in mind.”

In recent years, Frome Town Council has stepped in to protect services, take on assets and fill gaps, particularly following Somerset Council’s financial emergency.  This includes adopting 57 new open spaces, taking on the Key Centre and Badgers Hill, improving cleaning and maintenance in the town centre and supporting community organisations which are themselves plugging gaps in statutory services. The council says the budget reflects this additional responsibility.

During the meeting, some councillors shared concerns about the proposed work programme. Cllr Nick Dove shared concerns about the reliability and inadequate frequency of refuse collections and the associated graffiti on commercial bins, and didn’t feel there was a sufficient plan in place to tackle the issue, of great importance for residents.

Cllr Lisa Merryweather felt support for the economically deprived and the digitally excluded were not sufficiently provided for in the programme.

“Whilst we are doing a number of things in this work programme, they feel largely like plasters than addressing the real issues that face our residents,” she said. “I fear that if we do not make some bold moves, if we do not address the pressing number of challenges for our high number of residents who are deprived and underserved, we will be left behind.”

New Liberal Democrat town councillor Richard Pinnock shared concerns that the precept increase was too high and would impact the most vulnerable people in the community.

Lenka Grimes of Fair Frome thanked the council for its ongoing financial support of the charity, as their services were experiencing unprecedented demand and for raising the precept as little as possible.

Cllr Anne Hills and Cllr Barrows responded that there was significant provision in the budget and work programme to support Frome’s most vulnerable residents.

Residents can view the full work programme and budget at https://tinyurl.com/ftc-budget-26-27.

Pictured: Frome Town Councillors after the budget meeting on 18th February