THE campaign to fight a planning application for 1,700 houses to the south of the town has stepped up a gear.
‘Stop SGC’ campaigners held a socially distanced protest on Saturday 24th April to raise awareness of the Selwood Garden Community development and to demonstrate the ‘scale of destruction’ should the scheme be given the go-ahead.
Campaigners say that the development will result in the “destruction of an area of natural habitats and farmland that is double the size of Bruton”.
And they have warned that combined with other developments in the Little Keyford area, they estimate it could mean as many as 2,300 houses and 7,500 more residents that Frome ‘cannot handle’.
A Stop SGC spokesperson said, “People around Frome still don’t know how big this site really is. Our protest highlighted the huge number of fields that will be lost to executive homes and more roads for cars.”
It is expected that a planning application will be submitted to Mendip District Council in spring/early summer.
The spokesperson continued, “SGC will put great pressure on the already overwhelmed infrastructure of Frome and the surrounding area and the project’s backers do not include extra medical facilities or school places.
“With the site so far from the centre of town, new residents will be forced to use their cars, adding to congestion in the town, increasing air pollution and negatively contributing to the town and county’s declared Climate Emergency.
“Stop SGC is urging residents to sign up to its newsletter at stopsgc.org and write to Mendip Council’s Planning Board to show the strength of feeling about this ecological disaster.
“It has even set up a dedicated page on its website to help residents voice their objections to the plans: https://stopsgc.org/mdc-email-campaign/
“If the council can see the strength of opposition to this disastrous proposal then they will scrutinise it properly.
“Protests like the one on Saturday can help put SGC on the map for Frome residents. But due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, emailing councillors on regular basis is our best chance of making sure this huge mega site doesn’t become a feature on the map of Frome forever.”
