AN alternative plan for the regeneration of Frome’s Saxonvale site, produced by the Mayday Saxonvale group, went under scrutiny at a recent public engagement meeting held at Frome Town Council on 2nd December. The town council hosted the event so that local residents could meet the Mayday team and ask questions about the alternative plans.
Planning permission for the 10-acre brownfield site has already been given planning permission by Mendip District Council to the Acorn Property Group. However, the Mayday Saxonvale group say they have overwhelming public support for their alternative scheme.
In response to a question raised over how the Mayday group can be granted planning permission when the previous plans by Acorn had already been granted planning permission, Paul Oster, a director for the group said, “The landscape in front of Mendip District Council is quite different from what it was earlier in the year. The Acorn scheme was approved in January of this year 11 votes to 3 in support. Since that decision was legally unsound, it went back to the planning board and was approved again 7 votes to 6, so you can already see how the dynamics are shifting. No consent has yet been granted for Acorn to start building works on the site.
“The door is still open for a change of direction and the other important aspect is that we now have a fully thought-out alternative plan, that is policy compliant, which responds to Mendip’s own plan for an employment space, affordable housing and other aspects, and has over 700 positive comments on the planning portal (and a supportive comment from the Chamber of Commerce). On the flip side, we have the Acorn scheme which had 500 rejection comments, with none in support and was rejected by the town council, the civic society and Chamber of Commerce.”
“So, it’s now an active choice for Mendip District Council to choose between these two plans and either go down a route that doesn’t achieve their own plan and has been rejected by the town, when we have the polar opposite on our side.
“If people think this is the best plan for the site, then please do speak up and make you voice heard. This can be done by leaving a comment on the planning portal in support of our plans.”
Mayday Saxonvale engaged with the consultancy firm PRD to construct an economic statement to find out the economic benefits of the scheme. As a result, the group says their plan could generate 540 jobs either directly or indirectly through the supply chain and a £10million boost to Frome’s economy.
Paul Oster added, “We’ve earmarked around 3,800 sqm of space for a wide variety of different uses, from a lido to a workshop space, as well as the entire public realm within the site, which would be owned by Mayday.
“This enables us to take control over how the site is used, what types of tenants can operate within those and what do they deliver to the community. It’s very much our view that the community would be in control of who the tenants are that operate in those assets or buildings. For that to happen, the buildings would need to be owned by Mayday Saxonvale and there would need to be a re-constitution of its governor’s framework, with all the right representations from across the community and the town council as the local democratic institution.”
“Any profits that are generated from those community assets would be fed back into the community, either in Saxonvale, or in the wider community.”
You can access the planning portal here https://publicaccess.mendip.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=R10XTHKPLE600&activeTab=summary
