Local councillors unhappy with changes to Frome housing plans

By local democracy reporter Daniel Mumby

TWO new footpaths through a major Frome housing development won’t be delivered until next summer after new plans were approved. Also in the outline plans, only 5% of the development will be affordable housing.  Mendip District councillors who represent Frome are unhappy with the changes, saying that “promises have been broken” over projected affordable housing numbers, and that the footpath delay does not encourage  residents to stop using cars. 

The Acorn Property Group is currently constructing the Old Printworks development on Caxton Road in Frome. As part of the planning permission secured in 2019, the developer was legally bound to deliver new pedestrian links to the railway station and along the River Frome before any of the new homes were occupied. 

But these links will now not be delivered until June 2022 after Mendip District Council voted to change the legal agreements, as well as allowing a small increase in the number of homes being built. Under the outline planning permission granted in 2016, up to 160 homes can be built on the site of the former Butler, Tanner and Dennis Printworks. Acorn received detailed permission (known as reserved matters) in October 2019 to build a total of 157 homes on the site, along with a neighbourhood centre with local facilities. 

The Bristol-based developer applied to increase the number of properties to 159 (achieved by turning two of the homes into four flats) and to delay the delivery of the new footpaths until 103 of the new properties were occupied. 

Councillor Shane Collins – whose Frome Keyford ward includes the site – objected strongly to the changes when the council’s planning board met in Shepton Mallet on 18th August. 

He said, “It seems to me we should be encouraging people to walk to the station and into town as soon as they move in and start their move to Frome with good transport habits. 

“This would allow occupation of 65 per cent of the dwellings before the footpaths are completed – and this may of course take a good year of two, by which time 65 per cent of occupants may have got into a car habit, which obviously we don’t want to encourage.” 

Under the outline plans, only five per cent of the new homes have to be affordable, in light of the cost of removing contaminated materials from the brownfield site. 

Acorn indicated in 2019 that it may be able to increase the affordable housing to 11 per cent of the total – but this was never formally signed off. 

Councillor Helen Kay (the other Frome Keyford ward member) accused Acorn of breaking its promises to the council, citing the timing of plans for the Saxonvale site in the town centre (which it is also spearheading). 

She said, “I had no idea you can only secure the higher affordable housing if the ap­plicant puts in a deed of variation to the Section 106 agreement – which Acorn did do, in good faith, and strangely it was not processed. It sat there for a year, it wasn’t processed, and it was withdrawn two days after the Saxonvale application was put in. There could have been a sense from the developer that ‘we’ve got to give with one hand and take with the other’. 

“I don’t know what the motive for the developer was, but I am very disappointed.” 

The district council’s Local Plan includes a commitment to improving footpath links across Frome – including the “River Frome corridor initiative”, which seeks to secure footpaths along the length of the river. 

The Planning Inspectorate will make a ruling before Christmas on plans for new homes to the north of the Old Printworks site, including the possibility of public access to a disputed footpath along that stretch of the river. 

Around a dozen properties on the Acorn site have already been built at the northern end of the site, with the first phase delivering a total of 51 homes, according to their official website. 

Planning officer Simon Trafford sought to assure the board that the footpath would be delivered as part of the southern end of the site being built out during a later phase. 

He said, “I don’t think you need to worry about the footpath not being delivered. They will deliver the southern part of the development – Acorn has already had discussions with our tree officer. Without this change, the first occupiers will effectively have to walk through a building site to get to this riverside walkway.” 

Councillor Damon Hooton, who chairs the board, said the council had little choice with this matter but to “suck it up”. He said, “This site is unusual, and this is an unusual way of construction this site – if they did it from back to front [south to north], you’d get your footpath because residents could access it safely.” 

Councillor Nigel Hewitt-Cooper added, “We are snookered with this one – we don’t really have any choice. It would be pure folly to refuse this, because we would have a real hiding at an appeal.” 

The board ultimately voted to approve the amended plans by a margin of 11 votes to three.