Orchard, dog poo lamp or giant waterslide? Which project deserves £10,000? You decide!

A PUBLIC vote to decide how to spend £10,000 will be launched next week, with three projects battling it out to win the money.

For the People’s Budget ‘Town Vote’, the community will be asked to choose between a town orchard, a dog poo-powered street light and a giant waterslide event for the town, to receive the money.

The proposal for the town orchard says, “This will be sited on the Old Showfield and comprise of a range of local varieties of fruit trees. An orchard will help relive some of the drainage issues on the site, improve the local landscape of the Old Showfield and enhance biodiversity. The orchard will be planted by local conservation volunteer groups and the community will be encouraged to reinvigorate the practice of scrumping.”

The proposal for the dog poo-powered street light says, “We are keen to change the behaviour of those owners who do not pick up after their dog. We are keen to promote the importance of using renewable energy instead of carbon-based fuels. A dog poo-powered street light aims to maximise the potential of dog poo. It works by dog owners dropping their bags into a box at the foot of the light. The box is a small bio-digester that produces methane to fuel the light. Research suggests that 10 bags will result in two hours of gas light. It is likely that the location of the lamp will be either in Victoria Park or the Old Showfield.”

The proposal for the waterslide event says, “In 2014, Park Street in Bristol was closed for a day and a waterslide installed down the middle of the road. The event was very successful. This project will install a similar waterslide on one of the hilly streets in Frome. Sliders will apply for one of the free tickets and the lucky ones will be drawn out of a hat by the Mayor. The event will be free and a fun event for the community. We will use the event to launch the ‘You’re Welcome’ scheme which, as well as relaunching the community toilet scheme, encourages cafes to fill water bottles for free and is part of our plastic-free town campaign.”

The vote will be launched at next week’s Frome Town Council’s Annual Town Meeting on Wednesday 4th April and will remain open until Thursday 3rd May. The winning project will be announced in May, when project planning will commence, with the aim to deliver the project within the 2018/19 financial year.

Residents will be able to vote in person at the Town Hall or online via the town council’s website: www.frometowncouncil .gov.uk/peoples-panel-town-vote/ (the webpage goes live from next Wednesday).