FROME residents have cause for new year joy after their preferred vision for a new development moved a step closer to becoming reality.
Mendip District Council has been seeking to redevelop the Saxonvale site near the River Frome, twice granting permission to a scheme by the Acorn Property Group for 300 new homes, commercial units and an arts and heritage venue within the ‘western warehouse’.
Alternative plans put forward by the Mayday Saxonvale group have gathered significant public support, with hundreds of residents surrounding the site during the May Day bank holiday, in a show of solidarity.
The Mayday plans were approved by the council’s planning board in July, with the proviso that a draft legal agreement between the council and Mayday (known as a Section 106 agreement) come back before the board for approval before Christmas.
The board gave its backing to this agreement when it met in Shepton Mallet on 14th December. Now, the new unitary Somerset Council will have to make a decision in the spring as to which scheme goes ahead. Mayday Saxonvale directors, Damon Moore and Paul Oster, have welcomed the news.
Details of Mayday Saxonvale’s Section 106 agreement have been given. The agreement is effectively a contract between a housing developer and the council, in which the former agrees to contribute either physical amenities or money towards these as part of a development.
In this case, Mayday Saxonvale has committed to providing the following:
40 per cent affordable housing across the site (the equivalent of 73 properties)
Providing public open space, landscaping and ecological improvements
A new footbridge over the River Frome to link the site to Willow Vale
£827,848.78 towards local education provision (off-site)
Pedestrian and cycle links between the site and Vicarage Street
Traffic calming measures on Church Road, Vicarage Street and the nearby roundabout
The realignment of the A362 Garsdale roundabout
Contributing £246.444.68 towards improving the Gorehedge junction
The planning board had originally been due to debate these proposals, but members instead voted by a margin of ten votes to none (with one abstention) to accept them without any formal debate.
The decision puts Mayday Saxonvale’s scheme on a parity with Acorn’s, and allows the former to bring forward detailed plans (known as a reserved matters application) in due course.
The council’s asset management group voted in late-August to approve the Section 106 agreement for the Acorn scheme – promising that both schemes will be fairly evaluated, with the scheme which provides the best value to taxpayers being taken forward.
In a statement to Frome Times, Mayday Saxonvale directors Damon Moore and Paul Oster said, “We’re delighted to have completed the conditions associated with our planning approval in August, and to now have full outline planning permission for Saxonvale.
“Within the dissolution of Mendip District Council at the end of March, it is now clear that it will be the new Somerset Council that will decide who the Saxonvale site is sold to. We’re hoping that the new council can bring some fresh thinking, whereas Mendip has appeared wedded to the Acorn scheme.
“We look forward to sitting down with them to demonstrate how we can deliver the best financial and community outcomes for not only Frome, but also the wider Mendip and Somerset regions.
“We currently have a declaration calling on the new Somerset Council to fairly and transparently compare the two plans for Saxonvale, to ensure the right plan is taken for the future of Frome. We have almost 2,000 local resident signatures to date, as well as the majority of Frome’s district councillors, the Frome Chamber of Commerce, and the Frome Civic Society.
“This is the last chance to expand the town centre in a growing town and deliver the employment Frome needs. The way Saxonvale is developed will impact the future of the town for generations – long term thinking must therefore be at the centre of this decision.”
Pictured: An artist’s impression of the Mayday Saxonvale proposal.
