Keep Frome Local rallies protest over Saxonvale

KEEP Frome Local action group is petitioning against a new planning application recently put forward for the Saxonvale site in the town centre.

Bristol-based property developers Terramond have unveiled plans to build 60 new houses on the site beside Garsdale. The residential area would sit between Lidl and Frontier’s proposed retail park, which has already had Frome town councillors recommend against its plans.

Keep Frome Local is encouraging a mass objection to Terramond’s plans by encouraging local people to email Mendip District Council.

The campaign group is concerned about what it sees as the proposal’s lack of detail and its failure to fit the planning brief.

Keep Frome Local say that some of the plan’s unmet requirements include the lack of employment provided, access through the site being blocked, and a failure to create affordable homes.

The group says that the brief calls for a mixed-use area, but Terramond’s layout is mostly semi-detached homes on a ‘plinth’ of retaining walls, blocking access to the town centre.

Katy, a spokesperson for Keep Frome Local said, “Both the Frontier supermarket scheme and the Terramond housing scheme are designed solely to maximise developer profit, with very limited benefit (possibly even harm) to the town.

“The planning brief requires a mixed-use regeneration scheme with at least 5750 sq.m of flexible business space, such as offices, and neither scheme offers this.”