THE Frome Town Council meeting held on 9th September, started with a welcome from the chair, Mayor Anita Collier, and the online meeting was well attended by local residents and councillors.
The town council report, “Questions and comments from the public and cllrs followed. Paul Wynne, town clerk, gave an update on the Market Place improvements; the road will reopen on 25th September, and works will then continue, as specified, for another two weeks. The whole scheme is expected to be delivered within the original sixteen week time frame – by 12th October.
“Next on the agenda was a guest presentation from Dougie Brown from Active and In Touch. Dougie talked about the brilliant work the charity carries out. (see their article in this edition of Frome Times).
“Dougie thanked cllrs for the support the group has received from Frome town council and the Town Hall staff, particularly in the last six months. You can find out more about their work on their website: https://activeandintouch.weebly.com/
“Following on from this we heard from planning and development manager, Jane Llewellyn, whose report detailed the progress made to date on improved landscaping around the Boyle Cross in the Market Place.
“Next, Jess Francombe and Hannah Stopford, both children and young people projects officers, and Kate Hellard, community development manager, presented. Over the last year great progress has been made in working with partner organisations, residents, children and young people to identify and fill the emerging gaps in services in Frome.
“From roaming play with the SuperPirates over the summer, the Link & Learn training programme, to the Make it Happen youth conference to name a few, a whole host of activity has taken place over the year, across all age ranges.
“As for next steps, the team will be busy developing “Family Connect”, a support and information service for children, young people, and their families. They will continue with their training and networking for practitioners and interested residents.
“They’ll also be commissioning a play strategy for Frome and complete an audit of need post Covid-19 as children and young people return to school when we expect to see the impacts of lockdown and where arising gaps in services might be addressed.
“Wild about Trees officer, Helen Viner was up next. Her presentation detailed the work already completed and highlighted further proposed planting in the Mary Baily Playing Fields and Rodden Meadow. Comprehensive consultation will take place for both these proposals, the team will be talking to residents and community groups in late September/ early October and this will be promoted through our website, social media to get as many people involved as possible to comment on the plans.
“There are also plans to donate one or more oak trees to each of the schools in Frome. Helen is working with Frome Dissenters Cemetery who are keen to see more trees planted on their ground.
“She also went on to discuss a new project, where residents, organisations and businesses can make financial contributions or donations to support the Wild about Trees project. Part of this will enable carbon offsetting. The project will be developed, and further details will be available later in the year.
“Kate Hellard came back to present the next item which was a summary of the work to date supporting Frome residents through the first stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. She went on to discuss the potential of further national or local restrictions in the face of a possible second wave of infections and how FTC is prepared to respond to that which includes working with local partners, Somerset County Council and Mendip District Council, to ensure that Frome’s residents are supported.
“Kate’s report recommends that the ShopForMe service that was created during lockdown is moved over to Active and In Touch, who are well placed to carry this service out, and cllrs agreed for some funding to assist this.
“The agenda and details of everything mentioned above can be found at www.frometowncouncil.gov.uk/meeting/council-26/.”
