New plans to begin the transformation of a Frome brownfield site have been unveiled as the town declares a housing crisis.

The Saxonvale site lies in the heart of Frome town centre, where some of the town’s most prominent companies – including Notts Industries and Terramond – were once based.

The site, which was purchased by Mendip District Council in 2018, has been derelict for many years, with the Acorn Property Group and Mayday Saxonvale putting forward competing visions for how the site should be regenerated.

Following a public consultation in May, Acorn has now submitted detailed plans for the first phase of its redevelopment scheme, comprising a riverside park and new bridge at the site’s northern edge.

This comes as Frome Town Council declared a housing crisis, pointing to the unaffordable rents in the town and the lack of low-cost housing within major developments.

The Saxonvale site is bordered by the River Frome to the north, the Merchant’s Barton car park to the west, the existing properties on Vicarage Street to the south and the town’s Lidl store to the east.

The site is allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II (which has since been carried over to Somerset Council) to deliver a minimum of 250 homes along with commercial space and additional town centre car parking.

Acorn has already secured outline planning permission for its Saxonvale site, following two votes by Mendip District Council’s planning board (one in January 2021, one in September 2021) and a subsequent ratification of its Section 106 agreement with the council in August 2022.

Under these outline plans, 300 homes will be delivered on the site – of which 72 will be affordable – along with at least 45,000 sq ft of “flexible commercial space” (including restaurants, cafés and shops), a co-working office scheme (providing 25,000 sq ft of workspace), a riverside park and a bridge over the River Frome.

Acorn’s latest plans involve the fine details of the riverside park and new bridge, which will link the Saxonvale site to Willow Vale, Rodden Meadow and national cycle route 24, which links the site to Frome railway station.

The riverside park will include a fully-equipped play area and picnic area, a pond, a “conservation circle” (where outdoor events can be staged), a boules court, a community orchard and raised timber planters where community groups can grow vegetables and herbs.

A community hut will be constructed near the site’s north-eastern corner, which has been designated as a ‘nature priority area’ for education purposes.

Free water refill stations will be provided throughout the park, with publicly available bike tools and a pump near the cycle routes running through the rest of the Saxonvale site.

A café overlooking the play park and community facilities will be submitted as part of a future planning application.

A spokesman for Acorn said: “We are very proud of the proposals and feel it will be a sustainable asset to the community.”

These plans came after the town council declared a housing crisis on August 9, promising to come up with a plan to make it easier for local people to get on the housing ladder.

Councillor Polly Lamb said: “Following years of underfunding by central government we have a housing crisis in the UK. There is simply not enough good safe and secure housing in the rental market.

“The right to buy has destabilised the housing market, taking housing out of the social housing stock, meaning that more people enter the private rental market which in turn has pushed up prices.

“Using houses as commodities rather than homes for the last 40 years has had a devastating effect on safe and secure housing in Frome.

“We need to represent our local population by both pressing hard for change, supporting where we can and making sure the issues stay high on our agenda.”

Frome currently has more than 600 households on its social housing waiting list, with only 49 properties becoming available in the last six months.

The town has become an increasingly desirable place to live, with people with larger disposable incomes relocating from London and elsewhere – leading to “bidding wars” for the few private rental properties that become available.

The average rental cost is now £1,499 a month, which is half the average monthly salary.

Ms Lamb said the town council would be working with the Frome Area Community Land Trust (FACLT) to find land which can be developed for low-cost housing.

She added: “A community land trust is the only mechanism through which social housing can be kept as social rentals in perpetuity.

“We can also work with Somerset Council and lobby the government to support a policy of developers bringing forward 40 per cent affordable and social rental homes

“We can work with the housing authority to review holiday lets by checking permissions are in place, and work with developers and others to ensure that in the first instance they market the affordable homes to people who already in Frome.

“Ultimately, there is a lot then we can explore, and by declaring a housing crisis we can keep the issue high on the agenda and try and bring about positive change.”

The town council will now work with partners to develop an action plan, which will be discussed in public at its full council meeting in October.

Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the riverside park plans  before Christmas.

Mayday Saxonvale has secured a judicial review against the original Saxonvale planning permission, which will be held at the High Court on October 3rd.

Damon Moore, one of the Mayday directors, said: “This judicial review is a challenge to the decision by Mendip District Council’s planning board’s approval of Acorn Property Group’s outline planning permission, and specifically how employment space policy was misrepresented to the board.

“We will keep you up to date with any further developments.”

A Facebook Live of the location of the proposed footbridge can be viewed here.  

LDRS, John Wimperis