TOWN councillor, Nick Dove, has raised three questions that he wants answered by Mendip District Council over the Saxonvale site and its treatment of the Mayday Saxonvale initiative.
The district council have approved plans from developers Acorn Property Group, for the 10-acre town centre site and the alternative, social enterprise plan put forward by Mayday Saxonvale but cllr Dove says it seems a series of obstacles have been put in the way of the Saxonvale plan.
At a meeting of Frome Town Council last week, cllr Dove said that the alternative Mayday Saxonvale had “really caught the public’s imagination and interest” and was one of the most supported planning applications Mendip District Council had received.
He said, “There was a great celebration in the town when the planning application from Mayday was accepted at a meeting by Mendip District Council earlier this year. However, since then, there has been a rather bewildering stagnation in terms of what seems to have happened since then and I find it really hard to explain to people what is happening.”
He said there seemed to be delay and what seems to be a series of obstacles in the way of Mayday proceeding with their application, which was inexplicable. He said, “We invited Mendip District Council planning board to come to the meeting today so we could ask them some questions. Unfortunately, they were not able to come, so I’m asking three questions.
“Can Mendip District Council (MDC) confirm why they are not agreeing to participate in Mayday’s section 106 agreement given they have stated they are able to? This is directly blocking Mayday’s ability to finalise their section 106 agreement and complete their planning consent. Can MDC confirm that because of the delays caused by their refusal to participate in Mayday’s 106 agreement, the precondition that they have imposed, of a December deadline, will not result in the planning permission being rescinded? And thirdly, can MDC confirm that they will not proceed with any scheme in Saxonvale, until a fair and transparent evaluation of both schemes, based on their respective outline applications has taken place?”
Cllr Dove added, “This is about fairness, this is about transparency. This is about understanding why Mendip seems to be saying one thing publicly and then blocking what is an enormously popular, well supported scheme from proceeding into a fair evaluation process?”
He called on district and county councillors who were present at the meeting to answer the questions. Somerset and Mendip councillor John Clarke said, “I whole heartedly support what Nick Dove is saying. I think it is atrocious that Mendip District Council, having approved both schemes, is now putting a block on any discussions about the application in terms of following through the two applications.”
He said the district council was not doing what Mayday had “reasonably asked for”, that they compare the two applications in terms of best value for the town. He said, “This is the most important thing, I think – and also to some extent, what is best value for Mendip as well.
“My personal view is that they are looking at financial benefit, rather than social benefit. The attraction about Mayday is their scheme is purely about social benefit and the best interests of the town.” He said this is why there is such overwhelming support for the scheme. He said that he could not answer all the questions as he is not part of the LibDem administration, but said he understood that councillors have been told that the administration is not going to engage with Mayday at this point. He said the reason given was they have to await the outcome of a judicial review, which he understood would take place in December.
As a result, he said there should still be time before the end of April to have those discussions with Mayday. He said a decision would probably be taken by the planning board of the new unitary authority, post 1st May. Frome Town and Mendip councillor, Drew Gardner, said that he has publicly supported the Mayday application.
“Both schemes should be supported on their merits,” he said. But he said, “I have mixed feelings. My desire is for people to work together to make this happen, for both Mendip District Council and other parties to work together.” He said he was not defending the council. He believed the reason for not holding face-to-face meetings was that it could prejudice the case.
Talking about the Mayday Saxonvale group, he said it was a vibrant project, one that he had spoken about publicly. He said that it’s all well and good having a really great public pressure group, but everyone should understand that the game has now changed.
“Mayday is no longer a pressure group, they are actually a property developer,” he said. He wanted to see everyone giving it their best shot to give the town a choice. Cllr Nick Dove said that the excuse of a judicial review is a red herring.
“Mayday have been very happy to meet and discuss without prejudice,” he said. “It feels as if Mendip have accepted the Saxonvale proposal and have then put in place a construct, which stops them taking it further forward.”
Somerset county and Mendip councillor, Adam Boyden, replied to the comment about Mendip District Council not participating in the S106 agreement, saying that he was not sure this was the case.
He said he had seen emails from the Mayday camp to the top of Mendip District Council. He said he was not aware of a block of any sort. He said he understood the town’s feelings and would ask his colleagues at Mendip to be more proactive in communicating to the town, and to the town council, about what the situation is, otherwise there is lots of rumour.
Frome Town Council agreed that cllr Nick Dove’s three questions will be sent to the chief executive of Mendip District Council.
