Launched tonight, and online tomorrow: The Saxonvale Manifesto

Tonight's meeting with Kevin McCloud at the Rook Lane Chapel will see the launch of The Saxonvale Manifesto, which sets out the case against another big supermarket for Frome, and a different vision of the town's future. It'll be here to download from 9am tomorrow (Friday 1st July), and we want as many comments as possible. Watch this space.
(We'll also be selling hard copies for £1 each at the Artisan Market on Catherine Hill this Sunday).

Public meeting with Kevin McCloud on Thursday 30th June

TV star backs grander designs for Frome

The presenter of Channel 4's Grand Designs has stepped in to help the campaign group opposed to the planned Saxonvale development.

Local resident Kevin McCloud will speak at the next public meeting to be held at at 7.30pm, Thursday 30th June at Rook Lane Chapel.  

"It's a critical point in our campaign.  We understand that the proponents of a big supermarket, St James Investments, will be taking an exclusivity agreement for part of the land in the next few days" explained Frome resident and chairman of the campaign group, Luke Wilde. 

"Things could now start to move very quickly and it's time for the community to put down a marker.  We very much welcome Kevin's experience and input and hope that as many as possible can attend."

The public meeting at Rook Lane Chapel will ask 'If not a big supermarket, what then?  How can a Saxonvale development aid Frome's sustainability?'

At the event the campaign group will present a community manifesto for Saxonvale.  This will combine public feedback from previous meetings held at the Cheese and Grain with thoughts and views shared in local press, social media and email correspondence.  

Mr Wilde added:  "We're putting out a clear message that this community cares about its future and wants to have an active say in it.  The recent council elections underline this. Frome is loved for its independence and that is its point of difference from so many other towns.  If we want a development which is in character with the rest of Frome, we need a big turn out on the night to show the developers we will put up a fight."

Kevin McCloud's recent letter in the Somerset Standard expressed his view on the redevelopment of Frome's Saxonvale site.  He wrote:

"We will not create distinctive local towns that thrive economically and are a pleasure to live in if we make them all identikit places devoid of local businesses. If you want to see what happens when Tesco congregate big retail brands on one of their sites in a market town, take a ride to Shepton Mallet where the life has been sucked out of the town centre.

"The development of the Saxonvale site near the centre of Frome is a great opportunity which will not arise again in our lifetimes and it's an opportunity which should be given to local people."

The Saxonvale development planned by St James Investments includes a supermarket with a footprint of 40,000 square feet, plus a further 40,000 square feet of retail space and 500 car parking spaces.  The Tesco store in Shepton Mallet is of a similar scale to the supermarket planned for the land on Saxonvale.

The meeting next Thursday at Rook Lane Chapel will start at 7.30pm.  Councillors have confirmed they will be in attendance.    

News of a new Co-op foodstore?

This from the Somerset Standard...

"Frome's town centre could well have a small supermarket once again in the next few months – if widespread rumours on a social networking site are to be believed.

"Several Frome people have discussed on Twitter that the Co-operative group is in negotiations with the owners of the Westway Precinct to return to the town just a year after closing its store there.." .more here

Rumours now suggest this is all but confirmed. But where does it leave things in relation to Saxondale? Views please...

Full text of Kevin McCloud's letter in the Standard

It now seems likely that the Saxonvale site in Frome will be sold to St James, a development company which is the agent for Tesco; and it seems unlikely that Tesco would want to develop the site other than for one of their supermarkets.

So how many supermarkets do we need in Frome? And how many Tescos in Somerset? There are already three major Tesco stores and half a dozen Express outlets within a 12-mile radius.

Frome is undergoing a period of great change. It is finding its voice (10 of its councillors were recently elected on an Independent for Frome ticket) and quickly evolving, along with a small and noble band of towns like Brighton and Totnes, into a very 21st century community that places sustainability at its centre.

We should not damage the potential for this exciting change by passively allowing the rebuilding of Frome's core sites by remote and aggressive developers, nor by supermarkets. The supporters of more big retail development say that Frome needs to compete with Trowbridge. But it already is competing, in a unique way, through the growth of dozens of small independent retailers who flourish here, that include the national award-winning Whiterow Farm Shop and the shops of Catherine Hill and Cheap Street.

We will not create distinctive local towns that thrive economically and are a pleasure to live in if we make them all identikit places devoid of local businesses. If you want to see what happens when Tesco congregate big retail brands on one of their sites in a market town, take a ride to Shepton Mallet where the life has been sucked out of the town centre.

In the spirit of local enterprise – which seems to do so well in Frome – we should all be fighting off the likes of Tesco and other big retail, supporting the council, writing to our MP and reminding those in power that big commercial proposals for small towns run counter to the Government's agenda for localism and the Big Society.

The development of the Saxonvale site near the centre of Frome is a great opportunity which will not arise again in our lifetimes and it's an opportunity which should be given to local people.

As Frome changes it is attracting more creative businesses and becoming even more sustainable, more distinctive and more special. We must not allow anyone to damage its wonderful potential.

KEVIN MCCLOUD

Frome

Plans to claim £400k plot of Saxonvale site

From the Somerset Standard:

Frome Town Council wants to ensure a stake in a plot of land at the heart of the town which is at the centre of a controversial redevelopment plan.

The land on the Saxonvale site has gone on the market for £400,000 – and town councillors want to lay their claim to it.

If the town council was able to take possession of the land it would mean that it would have greater influence over the future of the site which is earmarked for major redevelopment, including a supermarket. More here

URGENT - Looks like Tesco is on the move

We understand that over the next few days, the property agent Kings Sturge - acting on behalf of the Notts Industry Pension Fund, owners of a sizeable share of the Saxonvale site - are likely to enter into a contract with one of Tesco's developers, presumably St James Investments.

So... it looks like Tesco is on the move!  

There'll be an urgent meeting at 7.30pm Monday 16th May at the Roundtower, Black Swan Arts, 2 Bridge St BA11 1BB for anyone who wants to actively campaign against a big Tesco. See you there!

What we suggest people should include in their response to Mendip's consultation on their Core Strategy

At the meeting at the Cheese And Grain on Wednesday 23rd, Duncan Skene highlighted the 'Your Mendip' magazine that most of us have received and the form inside asking for responses for the so-called Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework. The deadline for submissions is Thursday March 31st; if you haven't got a form, they should be available in Frome library. We're urging people to press the council to:

·      Specify the maximum size of the foodstore at Saxonvale that is compatible with the current Saxonvale Development Brief and to delete the imprecise wording, “small/medium”. 15,000 square feet should be specified as an absolute maximum.

·      Determine what proportion of the 70,000sq ft non-food retail space relates to Saxonvale and what to the re-developed Westway Precinct. This is not clear in the wording of the Core Strategy.  The Saxonvale Development Brief allocation for non-food retail (40,000 sq ft) should be regarded as an absolute maximum. Over-burdening Saxonvale with non-food retail space would run a real risk of establishing competing town centres and this should be avoided at all costs.

·      Make good the omission of any reference in the Core Strategy to the redevelopment of the Kingsway Precinct, which is appreciably more ‘tired’ than the Westway Precinct and which provides the major town centre link to the Saxonvale site. This appears to be a significant oversight. Any development at Saxonvale should be contingent on improving links to the existing town centre.

·      Be consistent. MDC permitted the expansion of out of town retail provision at Wessex Fields as recently as 2009 (yet to be built). If the main thrust of retail policy henceforth is the re-vitalisation the town centre, the Core Strategy needs to state that further retail expansion elsewhere will not be permitted.