FROME mayor, Sheila Gore, in the spirit of International Women’s day, welcomed all guests to the council chamber, including planning and development manager officer, Jane Llewelyn, and Laura Flaherty on Wednesday 7th March.
Councillor Tricia Golinski expressed her thanks to all the bus drivers for transporting people safely during the snowy weather, and Favbug (Frome Villagers and Bus Users Group) for their work in supporting bus services. Favbug member Tracey Harding has recently been instrumental in gathering information for a new combined and integrated bus timetable leaflet, featuring all Frome buses. Look out for it in your letterbox soon.
John Price, from Frome Selwood Tennis Club talked about the chance for Frome to join a national LTA scheme. John is working with environment manager, Chris Stringer, to create more tennis opportunity in Frome.
Elaine, a member of the public asked with a plastic- free question, “Does Frome Town Council have any plans to introduce public recycling bins in the town centre?” Jane confirmed that the council is looking into this, and cllr Pippa Goldfinger agreed – adding, “We still have to negotiate this with Mendip, as it would be their responsibility to collect the waste.”
Steve Macarthur, general manager of the Cheese and Grain, updated the room on recent developments, including a new recording studio set to open in September. The new Bert Jansch Studio will use £300,000 from the Lottery and £130,000 of grant money from Frome Town Council. The venue is growing all the time, now employing 50 people. Councillors praised Steve for his hard work and entrepreneurship.
Up next, the People’s Budget Town Vote. This is different to People’s Budget events – which will conclude on the 17th March at Frome Football Club. Councillors agreed with the three possible projects which were proposed. The people of Frome will vote in April – only one can win, and the project must be launched within 12 months of the vote.
The town council’s community projects officer, Kate Hellard, presented a list of community groups who councillors would like to give grants to, which were agreed. More details to be released in the coming weeks.
Town council project officer, Charlie Orr, then gave an update on Business Breakfasts, Discuss and Dos, Frome Busks and Soul Traders. He has also been looking into travel, and after conducting a survey with resilience manager, Anna Francis, discovered that there is a real demand for a bus to Commerce Park. Discussions with Frome Minibuses are in progress.
Charlie and Anna are also creating a plastic-free ‘community shopping’ checklist, to be filled in by small Frome businesses, as a way of bulk-buying paper alternatives and distributing them throughout town.
The next update will follow the Annual Town Meeting which will be held on 4th of April. The details of everything mentioned above can be found at www.frometowncouncil. gov.uk
