THE southern edge of Frome could change forever in the coming years as hundreds of new houses are delivered there.
By Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Mumby
Frome currently tapers off from the Little Keyford area, with large numbers of sloping green fields and narrow country lanes providing a picturesque buffer between the existing homes in the busy A361, which links the town to Shepton Mallet and Trowbridge.
Frome, like the rest of Somerset, has a housing crisis, with chronic shortages of affordable houses or social housing and rents being driven up, as prices on the commercial market continue to rise. Numerous housing developments are at various stages at the southern edge of Frome – some on sites which were allocated for new housing by the local authority, some of a more speculative nature.
With planning permission already in place for the majority of these sites, Frome’s green edge will gradually be pushed back and diminished, as new homes come to the area.
And since Frome is one of the few areas in Somerset not hampered by the ongoing phosphates crisis, developers can deliver new homes here relatively quickly, without setting aside either large areas of land or huge sums of money to provide additional mitigation, such as wetlands and improved water treatment facilities.
Here’s a guide to each of the sites being targeted by developers, working from west to east along Frome’s southern edge.
Keyford Meadows – 198 houses and commercial space
The Keyford Meadows site lies either side of Sandys Hill Lane, east of the Wessex Fields retail park which includes the town’s Sainsbury’s supermarket, a McDonald’s, a KFC and a Greggs.
The site was allocated in Mendip District Council’s Local Plan Part II (which was ratified in December 2021) to deliver a minimum of 200 new dwellings, as well as additional commercial premises to extend the retail park.
Outline planning permission was granted to Silverwood (Ditcheat) Ltd by the council’s planning board in October 2020, despite fears that it would cause “traffic chaos” on the local road network. The site was subsequently sold to Curo Enterprise Ltd., which secured approval for 198 houses (including 59 affordable houses) in February 2022.
Construction on the new houses, now dubbed Keyford Meadows, commenced in January 2023, including the delivery of a complex new junction which would cross Sandys Hill Lane to connect the northern and southern estates.
Speaking at the time, Mendip District Council leader Ros Wyke said, “This new development at Keyford Meadows is an exciting step forward for the community of Frome.
“Not only will it provide much-needed housing, including a significant amount of affordable options, but it rightly focuses on environmental sustainability. I’m pleased work on this project is under way, and look forward to seeing the finished development in the near future.”
A separate planning application for the commercial elements of the development has yet to be submitted to Somerset Council, which replaced the district council in April.
The Selwood Garden Community – 1,700 homes, commercial space, primary school and other elements
Perhaps the most contentious housing proposal currently in the air in Frome is the Selwood Garden Community (SGC), which would see more than 1,500 new houses built across the remaining land between the Little Keyford area and the A361.
Only a small section of this land is allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II, with the land north of Little Keyford Lane expected to provide around 20 homes.
Land Value Alliances, acting on behalf of the SGC landowner’s consortium, put forward proposals in July 2021 for up to 1,700 new houses – larger than the proposed second phase of the Monkton Heathfield urban extension in Taunton (1,450 homes) or the Staplegrove urban extension in the same town (1,628 homes).
The development will also include a local centre and community hub (which will include shops, restaurants and offices), more than 25,000 square metres of employment space, two residential care homes (providing a combined total of 105 beds), a 420-place primary school, playing fields, allotments, orchards and new pedestrian and cycle routes.
The Stop SGC campaign group stated in September 2022 that amended versions of the proposal amounted to “all sizzle and no steak”, arguing the developers has not taken residents’ concerns into account.
A spokesperson for the campaign group said, “The northern access point is still at Little Keyford Lane (even with an already increased amount of traffic from other builds already approved in that area), but there now seem to be plans to place traffic lights on the Blatchbridge roundabout – for reasons unknown.
“There has been nothing put in place to prevent pre-existing bypass traffic being pushed down through Marston. The housing density appears to have increased in some areas of the site – mostly downhill.
“There are now more industrial units, covering a wider area and the ‘wildlife area’ has been moved to underneath a motorway – we believe this change is due to concerns raised by Historic England to do with not blighting the views from Cley Hill, among other things.
“The ‘sister project’ to SGC, the solar park, which was supposed to be the basis of this ‘sustainable build’, has been withdrawn – and we can see no evidence of new commitments towards ecological benefit (no solar panels on roofs, no air-source heat pumps, no promises made about cladding).
“A decision on this gargantuan development has been delayed numerous times, with different versions of the plans being put forward and National Highways – which maintains the A36 between Frome and Bath – asking for more time to consider the impact the new homes would have on Somerset’s strategic road network.”
National Highways’ most recent ‘holding objection’ (an objection which prevents a decision being made until certain conditions have been met) expired at the end of September – meaning we could see the proposals coming before councillors for a decision some time in 2024.
The three Keyford sites – 292 homes
The Local Plan Part II allocated three sites either side of the B3092 The Mount, in the Keyford area, to deliver a minimum of 325 houses.
The northernmost site, which lies between The Mount and Little Keyford Lane, will provide 70 new houses following approval of revised plans from Wain Homes in July 2022.
This site, which lies opposite the existing houses on Dragonfly Close, has already been fenced off from the public and work has begun to clear the site ahead of archaeological surveys and the construction of the access road onto The Mount, which is expected to accelerate in 2024.
The two southern sites, either side of The Mount, are both due to be developed by David Wilson Homes, which secured planning permission for 118 houses on the eastern site in February 2022.
Permission was granted for 131 houses on the western site at the same meeting of Mendip’s planning board; however, the developer has since put forward amended plans which would reduce the number on this parcel of land to 104 houses – and a decision on these houses is still pending.
Efforts were made to secure a new roundabout on The Mount to connect these two sites, but David Wilson Homes concluded this was not workable and will be providing two staggered junctions instead.
Assuming that the revised plans for the western site are approved within the coming months, construction on the David Wilson Homes development could begin before the end of 2024.
The former Cuprinol site – 25 homes
The former Cuprinol factory site lies off Adderwell Road, to the north of the River Frome.
Persimmon Homes Wessex applied in February 2021 to build 25 houses on the site, with amended plans being submitted in August 2022 following concerns from planning officers about flood risk and the suitability of the site to be developed.
Somerset Council’s planning committee east (which makes decisions on major applications in the former Mendip area) gave the green light for this brownfield redevelopment when it met in Shepton Mallet on 6th July.
As part of the development, Persimmon is providing £237,536 toward the expansion of Selwood Academy on Berkley Road and a new primary school within the Edmund Park site on Castiel Road – though the council recently confirmed this school may not be delivered as originally planned.
Persimmon will also provide £28,825 towards NHS services in the area – though none of this will be directed at GP surgeries.
Since the site lies next door to the Old Printworks site, delivery on the new houses (eight of which will be affordable) will have to work around the ongoing construction work on that site, which is at an advanced stage.
Speaking in July, Persimmon Homes Wessex managing director Julian Roper said, “The development on brownfield land off Adderwell Road will provide a wide range of high-quality new homes designed for local people, especially young families and first-time buyers, who otherwise might struggle to get onto the housing ladder.
“The scheme will also deliver additional community benefit through the creation of new jobs, eight new affordable homes, publicly accessible green open space and financial contributions to local education and NHS services.”
The Old Printworks – 159 homes
The Old Printworks development is the most advanced site within Frome’s southern edge, with more than half of the new houses having already been constructed and sold.
The Acorn Property Group secured planning permission in October 2019 to deliver 159 new houses on the former Butler, Tanner and Dennis Printworks site, which lies off Caxton Road (though much of the construction traffic is using Adderwell Road).
As part of the development, a new boardwalk will be constructed along the eastern edge of the site, enhancing an existing footpath along the River Frome to provide a safe pedestrian route to Frome railway station.
The Acorn Property Group is also seeking to redevelop the Saxonvale brownfield site in the heart of the town centre – though its proposals suffered a setback recently when its outline planning consent was struck down following a judicial review.
