Dear all, as your local councillors we need to keep you up to date with council news, so please see a news update below:

Glow in the Park at the Old Showfield:

In case you haven’t seen all the signs, this is a reminder that on Saturday 30th October from 3.30 to 6.30pm the Old Showfield will host Frome’s Glow in the Park, which instead of fireworks this year, will include a spectacular drone display and other autumnal activities including apple pressing, tree planting, lantern making, pumpkin decorating, live music and food stalls (see here). There is a short road closure from 5-7pm between the cricket club and health centre/hospital entrances (see here). Car parking will be very restricted, with the Showfield car park closed and access to the hospital and health centre car parks managed to ensure access to patients and staff. This is expected to attract thousands of people from all over Frome, and should be great fun. Please do keep social distancing, and wear a mask – see next item.

High Covid rates in Mendip – public health advice:

In a briefing note sent to councillors, the head of public health in Somerset has advised that Mendip, specifically the greater Frome area, currently has the highest rate of Covid cases in Somerset, with a large number of cases in school children. They advise on vaccinations, and that people should take all reasonable precautions to stop the spread and bring case numbers down again – “Minimise close social contacts, meet outside if you can, well ventilated inside if not, and wear face coverings in crowded indoor spaces”. Please see here.

A Covid-19 Mobile Testing Unit is now being set up at North Parade car park in Frome, as Somerset County Council continues to make testing more accessible to areas with acute need – see here.

Ambulance delays – why?

Drew has written here about recent experiences with long delays in ambulances attending some local accidents and incidents, and asks why? ‘Are there enough Ambulances, are there enough drivers? Is there no space at A&E to accept the casualties, causing an ambulance ‘traffic jam’? Are too many people calling the ambulance? I must repeat this is not aimed at being critical of the ambulance service. I feel that the authorities and the general public need to understand the problems faced and somehow work together to try and overcome this unacceptable state of affairs. To tackle this we all need be open and honest as to what the problem is and then try to fix it.’ If you have concerns or any information about this issue please contact Councillor Drew Gardner on cllr.gardner@mendip.gov.uk or phone 07860 288624.

Our MP broke his promise to end sewage pollution:

As seen in the local press this week, I and other Lib Dem councillors have pointed out that our MP has broken his promise to local environmental campaigners that he would support a legal duty to stop untreated sewage being discharged from storm overflows – please see here. Please support the campaigns to end sewage pollution by Surfers Against Sewage, the Rivers Trust, the Friends of the River Frome and others. As the issue is likely to come back to the Commons again shortly (see here), please politely write to your MP and let him know what you think – he may have another chance to do the right thing and keep his promise next time!

How did our rivers end up like this, and what can we do about it?

This is a local and national issue – the Rivers Trust interactive map here shows where the sewerage network discharges and overflows into rivers – people must avoid entering the water immediately downstream of these overflows, especially after it has been raining. Several local news articles in 2020 highlighted local river pollution and health concerns here, here and here. Friends of the River Frome are also hoping to apply to designate parts of the River Frome as a bathing water, which would mean stricter pollution controls and better water quality – please get in touch with them to get involved. Their next meeting ‘How did our rivers end up like this, and what can we do about it?’ with a screening of the film Rivercide and discussion afterwards, is on Friday 19th November at 6pm at Frome Town Hall – see here for tickets.

Pedestrianisation of flytipping hotspot endorsed by councillors:

Mendip District Councillors have approved a plan to apply to the Government to pedestrianise roads to the north of Frome to reduce flytipping. The proposal was approved at MDC’s Full Council in September (see item 12 here), after an initial consultation by Mendip led to a majority of respondents backing the plan to restrict vehicles from a stretch of Berkley Lane and Dark Lane (see here). After the previous road closure ended in February, and a petition was launched by Berkley Lane residents to keep the road closed, I suggested that a pedestrianisation order under section 249 of the Town & Country Planning Act could improve the amenity of the area by preventing flytippers using the roads to ‘dump and run’. This was agreed at a Multi Agency Working Group before coming to public consultation and Full Council (see here). MDC is now preparing the application to the Secretary of State, which will trigger a formal public consultation. Hopefully this will deter flytipping in this area in the long-term.

Flytipping crackdown:

Mendip DC and Avon & Somerset Police are working to crack down on the dumping of illegal waste in the Frome area through joint operations – see here. Fly tipping is illegal and the Council will look to take enforcement action wherever possible. If you spot a fly-tipping incident, please report it as soon as possible on 0300 303 8588 or online here.

Did you know? Mendip residents can be prosecuted even if their waste is fly-tipped by someone else on their behalf. Always use a registered waste carrier to collect your rubbish. Find waste carrier in your area on the Environment Agency’s website here.

Flytipping petition:

Local resident John Boxall has launched a petition to deter flytipping, which calls for action to ban flytipping offenders from driving, so please consider supporting – here.

Planning a bonfire? Stay safe and think of the neighbours, urges Council:

As the bonfire season approaches Mendip District Council’s Environmental Health Team is asking residents to put safety first, and avoid being a nuisance neighbour – see here.

New Mendip Business Hub launch to benefit businesses:

Dozens of local businesses attended the launch of the Mendip Business Hub, a new online Council service which works with businesses in the district by providing expert advice, guidance, and support – see here.

Campaign to help local businesses fill job vacancies:

A new campaign is aiming to bring Somerset’s employers and jobseekers together in a bid to help fill vacancies and provide a timely boost to local businesses. STEP-UP Somerset, a collaborative project between Somerset County Council, Mendip and the other District Councils in Somerset and partner organisations, is calling on businesses to promote their vacancies – see here.

Mendip bids for more Changing Places:

A bid to the Government’s Changing Places Fund is being submitted by Mendip District Council, to extend the rollout of Changing Places toilet facilities in Mendip, by applying for £100,000 to provide three facilities (with £30,000 funding from MDC agreed in principle). This would fulfil the Council’s ambition of a facility in each town (established by a motion I submitted in 2017 – see here) by providing Changing Places in Glastonbury and Street, and hopefully another facility in Frome at the Sports and Fitness Centre. Mendip’s Cabinet meeting in September (item 11 here) approved the bid, and I and local resident Alison Douthwaite spoke of the need for these facilities, and to make sports more accessible in the district, including for the award-winning Frome Falcons Wheelchair Football club and teams they play in Frome.

New fast-track home improvement option for Mendip’s disabled residents who want to live at home:

Mendip District Council supports disabled people with the costs of home adaptations, to help them live independently and safely. Disabled Facilities Grants are means-tested grants of up to £30,000, and are available following a referral from an Occupational Therapist. However, Mendip can now announce a ‘fast-track’ version of the grant, for smaller sums of up to £5,000. These fast-track applications can be processed quickly and easily, for those most in need – see here.

Mendip marks World Homeless Day with tips on how to help:

Mendip District Council believes everyone deserves a home and to mark World Homeless Day on 10th October, the Council had some wise words on the positive action you can take to help, and if you see someone who you believe is rough sleeping or is homeless in the district – please see here.

Grant panels meet to review Communities Fund and Eco Project applications:

Almost 100 applications were submitted to the Mendip Communities Fund and Climate and Ecological Emergency Fund from local organisations, all hoping to secure financial help to get their community or eco projects off the ground. The schemes, launched back in June, are now closed, and two separate panels will now meet to review the applications and allocate the total grants of up to £400,000 for local organisations and projects – see here.

Mendip signs national ‘net zero pledge’ to tackle climate emergency:

As the international climate change conference COP26 approaches, Mendip District Council has joined other climate-aligned councils across the country in signing the UK100 Net Zero Pledge. UK100 is a network of local government leaders committed to playing their part in the global effort to tackle climate change, and is pushing for more powers and resources from central government to enable councils to take more action to help the UK meets its climate emissions-reduction target. In February 2019, Mendip District Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency. Since then, the Council has been working through a number of projects to reduce both its own emissions and those across the district, such as the planned installation of EV charging points, working with our wildlife trust on ecological recovery and increasing recycling across the district – please see here.

Somerset Bus Improvement Plan published:

Somerset County Council’s Cabinet has approved the county’s Bus Improvement Plan, a bid for a £163 million share of a £3 billion funding under the Government’s ‘Bus Back Better’ initiative. The aim is to make bus services greener, more attractive, more affordable, easier to use, as well as faster and more reliable, and it forms an integral part of the Somerset’s Climate Emergency Strategy by getting more people out of cars and onto public transport – see here.

Frome Missing Links extends cycle path at Low Water:

Frome’s Missing Links volunteers and supporters are celebrating another small milestone towards the completion of a traffic free route for cyclists and walkers between the town and the end of the Colliers Way path at Great Elm – see here.

Hedgerow removal refused at Packsaddle:

Mendip District Council has refused an application to remove 477m of hedgerows to the north of Packsaddle Way, and is issuing a Hedgerow Retention Notice, ‘to prevent the loss of hedgerow(s) that are “important” under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 due to their historic / landscape value’ (see refusal notice here). I highlighted the importance of this hedgerow in an objection last month, as did several other residents and councillors – please see here.

Packsaddle site proposed for sale by Somerset County Council:

Somerset County Council’s Cabinet has put the ‘disposal of land known as Packsaddle, Frome’ on its Forward Plan of Key Decisions (see here) in the last three months. This is the fields off Packsaddle Way known locally as the ‘school site’, which I understand was obtained by the county council many years ago in order to build a primary school. The site was briefly promoted for housing development in Mendip’s Local Plan several years ago but later withdrawn. It has also been referred to more recently as a potentially more suitable alternative site for social housing than Selwood Crescent green, when the latter was promoted briefly this summer, which led to an overwhelming campaign to save the green (see here). We await news from County.

Government to cut local councillor numbers:

A joint committee is being established to manage the transition to a new unitary council, which will take over from the county and district councils from April 2023 (see here), and this meets for the first time on 5th November. The transition will inevitably take officer time away from normal duties. The next local elections (to the new unitary authority) are currently due in May 2022, but these could be delayed by another year. The Government also wants to reduce the number of councillors serving in the new unitary considerably – Westcountry Bylines explains here why this matters. Councils were given a few weeks to come up with their own ideas of how to make a lower number of unitary council divisions work, but they could not, and changing ward boundaries would require a full official boundary review and public consultation, which could take over a year. Earlier this year a local poll found that 65% of the 110,000 people voting wanted two unitary councils for Somerset not one (see here), but the Government ignored the voters and chose One Somerset instead. The Government decision on the number of divisions and councillors, and the date of the next local elections, is awaited – local democracy in Somerset is now under their control.

Want a play street?

Frome Town Council is promoting the idea of play streets, or street parties, where a local road is closed to allow children and adults to play freely without traffic for a time. Several streets in our area would be suitable – please see here to find out more and contact the Town Council, and do let me know if you are interested in having one.

Want to plant trees?

We want, and need, to plant more trees in Mendip and Somerset. Trees help reduce flooding, whilst also capturing carbon from the atmosphere. But they must be the right trees, and in the right places. Mendip’s Scrutiny Board discussed the issues around tree protection in October (see reports here) and we want to work together to increase tree planting. Frome Town Council has planted trees in several areas, including at the Old Showfield and its back fields. Mendip can help too – if you know a great place for trees please let us know, explaining what type of land it is and who you thinks owns it. Just email neighbourhoodservices@mendip.gov.uk and copy me in at cllrboyden@gmail.com we’ll be in touch.

Acheson & Acheson extension approved at Commerce Park:

On 13th October, Mendip District Council’s Planning Board approved the planning application for the extension of Acheson & Acheson’s manufacturing and logistics facility at the Commerce Park, with landscaping, 2 loading bays, additional parking, external lighting and plant (see the planning application here, the Planning Board report here (under item 7, site DM05). The Chair of Coalway Lane Residents Association Tom Hill and I both raised concerns about the location of the extended industrial building in a zone previously restricted to office/ business uses, and the need for good noise controls including to restrict the hours of delivery vehicle access. Planning Board members voted to approve the application, and to impose an additional planning condition to control the operational delivery times. Please see here for the draft minutes of the meeting which includes the debate on this in pages 20-23.

Outline planning approval confirmed for Saxonvale:

Mendip District Council, as landowner, has issued a statement following the decision at Planning Board on 15th September to grant outline planning permission for the mixed use development of land at Saxonvale (subject to agreement of conditions with developer Acorn Property Group) – please see here. A planning application for an alternative development on the site has also been submitted by Mayday Saxonvale Development Ltd. – see here.

Other Planning news:

Mendip’s Local Plan Part 2 (Sites and Allocations) was endorsed by the Cabinet in October, after the Inspectors Report found the Local Plan is now sound if it includes some modifications – see here. This will come to Full Council for adoption in either late November or December.

An unchanged planning application by Wainhomes for 70 homes off Little Keyford Lane was refused at Planning Board in October, three months after it was deferred so that changes could be made to improve a wider site masterplan (see July news here). Members decided to refuse it for 5 reasons, including the impact on the hedgerow along Little Keyford Lane (see here for draft minutes, pages 3-9). The applicants had also just lodged an appeal for non-determination (see here) so will now be seeking to overturn the refusal.

A planning application for 30 homes at Great Dunns Close in Beckington was also refused at Planning Board in October, on three grounds relating to harm to local heritage, foul drainage, and the lack of a Section 106 agreement for local infrastructure (see here for the draft minutes, pages 9-15).

The outline planning application for the Selwood Garden Community has been submitted – this is for up to 1,700 new homes, two care homes, 12 hectares of employment land, a mixed use local centre for primary school, cafes/restaurant and convenience store, and other social and physical infrastructure and greenspace, at the southern edge of Frome – you can see the application plans and Environmental Statement here, and read about it here and here.

The appeal by Gladman against Planning Board refusal for 63 homes in Coleford has been allowed by the Inspector.

Recycle More is … recycling more:

Somerset’s new Recycle More service has delivered thousands of extra tonnes of recycling and proved popular among residents using it, councillors heard in September. Launched in Mendip in October last year and South Somerset at the end of June, it is estimated that the expanded weekly collections have produced more than 6,000 extra tonnes of recycling – including more than 1,000 tonnes of extra plastic. Over the first 44 weeks, Mendip has seen an average weekly increase of more than 100 tonnes a week. A customer survey in Mendip found that 84% of respondents preferred their new Recycle More service to the previous recycling regime – see here for more. I also understand refuse and recycling collections are ‘back to normal’ at the moment.

Free parking this Christmas in Mendip:

Mendip shoppers, visitors and businesses can enjoy free parking during the run up to Christmas and on New Year’s Day. Free car parking will be available in all Mendip-owned pay and display car parks during the holiday period, for one week, from Saturday 18th December until Friday 24th December 2021, and on Saturday 1st January 2022, and in selected car parks (including Frome’s Cattle Market) on Small Business Saturday on 4th December – see here.

Reporting back from meetings:

I have attended meetings of Full Council, Scrutiny Board, Planning Board, Somerset Waste Scrutiny Panel, Frome Councillor Forum, and various working groups:

• 27th July: MDC briefing on the local government reorganisation (online).
• 3rd August: MDC Scrutiny Climate & Ecological Emergency Working Group meeting, on tree conservation and planting policy (online).
• 3rd August: MDC group briefing on social housing development options (online).
• 9th August: MDC Cabinet meeting (online) discussed MDC climate change policy (the adoption of the Council’s Carbon Management Plan), and had a presentation from the Somerset Rivers Authority on its work in the district, including in Beckington and Rode (see agenda, reports and minutes here).
• 18th August: MDC Planning Board (in person), determining planning applications at Baltonsborough, Sharpham, and Caxton Road in Frome (see agenda, reports and minutes here).
• 24th August: MDC briefing on local government reorganisation (online).
• 25th August: MDC Scrutiny Working Group on Ending the Cycle of Disadvantage (online): discussed Council Tax collection, and ways to improve support for and communications with people in financial difficulties.
• 26th August: MDC Lib Dem briefing on electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
• 6th September: MDC Cabinet (online) discussed improving air quality, affordable and social housing delivery, and the bid for funding for more Changing Places in the district (see agenda, reports and minutes here). I urged Cabinet to include for a Changing Places at Frome Sports & Leisure Centre in the bid (see November news).
• 7th September: Frome Councillor Forum (online).
• 23rd September: Somerset Waste Board Scrutiny Panel (online): we discussed missed collections, the rollout and effectiveness of the new Recycle More kerbside recycling service, and a repair and reuse initiative (see agenda here).
• 27th September: MDC Full Council (in person): discussed MDC’s progress of climate policy, licensing policy, and discussed and agreed the proposal to apply to the Government to pedestrianise Berkley Lane to the north of Frome to tackle flytipping (see November news) (see agenda and reports here).
• 5th October: Frome Councillor Forum (online): the cross-council forum discussed weed control in the town and heard from cllr Heather Shearer (MDC Cabinet member) who I had suggested be invited to talk about MDC policy.
• 7th October: MDC briefing on the plans to apply for the pedestrianisation of Berkley Lane.
• 12th October: MDC briefing on the local government reorganisation (online).
• 13th October: MDC Planning Board (in person): Planning Board determined planning applications at Little Keyford Lane in Frome (refused), Great Dunns Close in Beckington (refused, N.B. I could not vote on this, being absent for part of the discussion dealing with a family matter), and the expansion of the Acheson & Acheson facility at the Commerce Park (allowed; N.B. I was not at the meeting in person but spoke on the application (see November news) (see agenda, reports and minutes here).
• 26th October / 1st November: MDC Scrutiny Climate & Ecological Emergency Working Group meeting (online).

Any Other Business:

I and Drew have been working on other issues, including:

• Electric vehicle charging points;
• pedestrianisation of Berkley Lane to combat flytipping;
• Council Tax collection and support;
• Selwood Crescent Green park bench, and improvements to Hawksworth play area;
• An unauthorised commercial HGV washing operation in a residential area – please report any instances to MDC on planningenforcement@mendip.co.uk or 0300 303 8588.

Other MDC news can be found here – https://www.mendipgov.uk/news.

Frome Town Council news can be found here https://www.frometowncouncil.gov.uk/news/.

Somerset County Council’s is here https://somersetnewsroom.com/

Any Questions?

Please let me know what needs doing, or any questions, by email to cllrboyden@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Best wishes,

Adam Boyden

with Cllr Drew Gardner,    
Liberal Democrat Mendip District Councillors for Frome College ward

   Leave a comment