25 March 2018
Cllr Des Harris (Frome Market) writes:
If you read the local newspapers you’ll have noticed that there are plans afoot to build a new “Garden Village” in the green fields to the south of Frome. It would be a very big village, even a small town of some 2000 homes of varying sizes and shapes, but with all the facilities you’d expect in a large village: a school, roads, playgrounds, shops, community spaces, work
units, public transport, maybe even a village green with a pond and some ducks on it. If you reckon on three people per house on average, 2000 houses could contain as many as 6000 new people with all that might mean for the future of Frome.
It’s important to say that these ambitious plans are at a very early stage of development and may never materialise. If they do then a massive undertaking like this wouldn’t be complete for several years. So it’s far too early to be having sleepless nights over it. It’s not too early, however, to be pondering some of the big questions: “where would all these new people find work?” “How would this new Garden Village connect with and relate to Frome itself?” “How would it fit with the existing development behind Christchurch School and the several hundred new homes planned for the fields close to Little Keyford Lane - all on the southern fringe of Frome?”
One thing I see all too often as a member of Mendip District Council’s Planning Board is the acceptance of unsatisfactory, piecemeal developments in and around Frome. The developers wriggle out of their obligations to provide social or affordable housing, employment space and proper infrastructure such as roads, footpaths and bridges where they are needed. Their excuse? “Sorry, we really can’t afford all those extras because … we hadn’t counted on the land being contaminated.” Or: “we wouldn’t reach our 20% profit margin if we provided lots of less expensive homes.”
This certainly wouldn’t be the case with a new Garden Village. It would have to provide everything a flourishing village needs, including a design and layout that encourages good community and a pleasant living environment. Frome deserves no less.