My letter to the Frome Standard this week read:

‘I have thanked Lyn Zalac for her letter last week about my role as a local councillor in getting the old Showfield into Frome Town Council hands, so that it can be improved and managed for the local community. But I must give credit to Vision For Frome (and Claire Hein and Neil Oliver) and Frome Town Council for undertaking the original public consultation in 2012, and for writing the report that became the basis of FTC’s costed improvements plan, before things ran into difficulties. An update on that story can be found on my website www.adamboyden.mycouncillor.org.uk. As the legal arrangements between the town and district councils and the Agricultural Society are nearly complete, there is still time for people to tell the town council how you want to see the Showfield improved. Please also tell me via cllr.boyden@mendip.gov.uk. Once the deal is done we can all celebrate. The town council should then consult on a final plan of action and get people involved in making the Showfield an even better space.
Adam Boyden Mendip District Councillor, Frome College ward (LD)’

There is still time to give the Town Council your ideas for improving the Showfield – please see the press release here, see the Town Council’s announcement here, or call in to the Council’s office on Palmer Street to see the ideas and have your say on the future of the Showfield. Alternatively contact Sarah Russell on 01373 465757 or at russells@frometowncouncil.gov.uk.

An update on the letter I wrote on this in November 2014, to explain the situation as it stands now, is below:

Over the last few years I have listened to residents about the management of the old Showfield, site security, flooding, dog poo, the need for a fence to keep dogs out of the playground, and the need for the improvements scheme (the £38,000 earmarked in the Frome Health Centre development’s ‘Section 106 Agreement’) to be drawn up and implemented, and I have raised these issues with Mendip District Council who currently manage and lease most of the site from the Frome & District Agricultural Society on behalf of the community, but Mendip has recently been unable to do any more than minimal maintenance. In autumn 2012, Frome Town Council and Vision for Frome consulted local people to help identify what improvements should be made, a report of what people wanted was written up (see here for the report – Frome Showground report Final 31st October 2012.pdf), and an improvements plan was costed and agreed by Frome Town Council in 2013. This included a fence around the playground, areas of shorter grass for picnics, new and improved footpaths, more seating, trees and bins, improved site security, an outdoor fitness trail, areas for wildlife, possibly a new mini-pitch, and identified a need for more play equipment and low level path lighting. After lengthy discussions about who would do what, I helped ensure that Mendip twice agreed (at Cabinet and CAMG) in principle that Frome Town Council take over (transfer) the leases. When a legal problem arose in 2013 that stopped the transfer and the improvements plan from going ahead, partly due to the ‘Village Green’ application on the site, I discussed it at Mendip and met with FTC officers, the Agricultural Society and FROGS separately to try and resolve it.

The problem was that with the undetermined Town & Village Green application (submitted by FROGS to Somerset County Council in 2011) still pending consideration, and which will still take several years to be heard, the Agricultural Society (although happy in principle) objected to the lease transfer unless MDC retained legal liabilities over the site. Mendip’s Cabinet were however unwilling to retain liability, and with it the threat of legal costs in future, and so did not agree to transfer the leases to FTC if it meant retaining liability. MDC officers then planned to work out a scheme of improvements themselves. However MDC’s legal advice was that most of the priorities people identified (a fence around the playground, a mini-pitch, new paths and an outdoor fitness trail) could be carried out with the TVG application hanging over the site. MDC’s budget restrictions also meant that cutting grass shorter in anything but a small area would also not be approved. MDC also may not have consulted local people on their eventual improvements plan, as that depended on resources. Because this is not what most residents wanted, I wrote a report for Frome Town Council to set out the issues and options ahead, for the Full Council meeting on 21st May 2014. My report can be found here – Showfield report cllrAB. At the meeting my report was discussed with a covering report from the Town Clerk (see here – FTC Agenda item 13 – report on Showfield). Council leader Mel Usher also proposed that FTC be proactive and commission an improvements plan that can be implemented with the TVG application in place. Town councillors agreed unanimously to take things forward including to start discussions with the Agricultural Society on buying the land in order to overcome the problems.

The discussions went well and in November 2014 Frome Town councillors agreed unanimously to purchase the main part of the old Showfield (the open area, the childrens playground and the Collegians football pitch, excluding the cricket pitch, car park and pavilion) from the Agricultural Society for £125,000, and to take a long-term lease on the two fields behind Ashtree Road, Chaffinch Avenue and Linnet Way. When the purchase goes ahead, the old Showfield will remain protected for recreational use, the improvements plan will be updated (with community inputs) and finally implemented, the legal problems that have stood in the way of progress will disappear, and it will be managed locally by the Town Council, working proactively with the local community.  This is great news for everyone that uses the area, and for Frome as a whole.

In December 2014, Mendip District Council agreed (at Corporate Asset Management Group) to surrender its leases for the old Showfield, so that Frome Town Council can purchase, maintain and enhance the site as a community asset. This is the outcome I asked members of CAMG and MDC’s assets officers to agree on, as the licence surrender should be quicker than a formal transfer of leases (which may take over a year). Discussions then progressed through the required legal channels at MDC and FTC.

In June 2015, Somerset County Council withdrew the Village Green application as there were no objections at all to the consultation and site notices erected in May. This had to happen to allow the site to be protected through other means and allow the planned improvements to go ahead.

Legal teams for Frome Town Council, Frome & District Agricultural Society and Mendip District Council are now finalising the legal agreements to progress the sale and transfer of the old Showfield to Frome Town Council. This will enable improvements to site management and the improvements plan (using nearly £40,000 funding from Frome Medical Centre) and enable the Town Council to involve local residents much better in managing and enhancing the site in future.

In late June 2015, with the Town Council due to take over soon, Frome Town Council started to ask people whether the ideas proposed in 2012/13 are still popular, and whether anyone has new ideas, perhaps from people new to the area.  FTC will then put all of the ideas together to see what can be delivered (in the early autumn).

Please see here for the Town Council’s request for your views on: http://www.frometowncouncil.gov.uk/old-showfield-in-the-hands-of-the-community/ and in the Frome Standard article on Showfield, or call in to the Council’s office on Palmer Street to see the ideas and have your say on the future of the Showfield. Alternatively contact Sarah Russell on 01373 465757 or at russells@frometowncouncil.gov.uk

Residents who responded to the autumn 2012 consultation have waited a long time to see any action. You should not have to wait much longer. Parents worried about their children playing in an unfenced playground should be happy once the fence is put in as a priority.  A new ‘Friends of the old Showfield’ or existing community group could also work with the Town Council on this. Thanks go to Frome Town Council and the Agricultural Society for working on and agreeing the deal, to Frome Collegians and FROGS for their support, to Vision For Frome for previous work on the public consultation, to particular Mendip officers for their help, and to every resident who has raised the issues over the years and supported this decision – what you said made a difference here.

Adam Boyden, Frome Town & Mendip District Councillor, Frome College ward (Lib Dem), email cllr.boyden@mendip.gov.uk