Dear All,

Part of a local councillor’s role is to keep residents informed, so here is my latest newsletter on all things local…

Covid disrupts recycling collections in Stonebridge:

Somerset Waste Partnership is apologising for missing recycling and food waste collections this week in Stonebridge and other parts of Frome, as well as Beckington and Berkley villages, as a result of extremely heavy loads and increasing Covid-related staff absence (see here).

Recycling and food waste was due to be collected from kerbsides yesterday (Tuesday 4th January), but SWP’s update statement this morning states that missed collections in Frome will be collected next Monday 10th, not this week. SWP’s website here contains advice on what to do with recycling and food waste if it is not collected for a week, including home composting, putting food waste double bagged in with the rubbish, and taking it to the tip.

I have asked SWP to return for missed collections within 2 days and to not miss whole streets for a week, and for food waste to be prioritised for collection, for public health and hygiene reasons, but this has not been possible this week. Please let me know if you have particular problems. Affected streets include Stonebridge Drive, Beaconsfield Way, Brunel Way, Wellow Drive, Magnolia Close, Croscombe Gardens, Wedmore Close, Priddy Close, Acacia Drive, Lime Close, Briar Close, Laburnham Close, Larchfield Close, Ashtree Road, Aspen Close, Charterhouse Drive, Stephenson Drive, Summer Hill, Woodland Rd, Alexandra Rd, Singers Knoll, and surrounding areas including Berkley, Beckington and Standerwick. SWP can also be contacted here.

In other news, SWP have taken delivery of their first electric collection truck, which will reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions – please see here.

Planning application for visitor toilets and servery facility at the Old Showfield:

The Frome Collegians football club have submitted a planning application for the provision of visitor toilets and servery facilities, adjacent to their football pitch at the Old Showfield. The facilities are needed in order to comply with Football Association Ground Grading requirements for the level of football the senior team play at, and will potentially be available to serve other sporting events. Please see here for more.

Tree planting at Old Showfield and elsewhere:

Frome Town Council, community groups and school pupils have been busy planting over 2500 trees in recent months. In our area this included a blossom circle at the Old Showfield; the Year 10 Eco group from Frome College and the Rainbows girl guides and brownies and their families planting a hedgerow around the play area at the Old Showfield; the Packsaddle and Chapmans Close community groups planting local hedgerows in their green spaces; and Selwood Academy planting four Japanese Kazan trees at the school and elsewhere in Frome. Hundreds of trees were planted elsewhere in Frome, in Egford Park and Whatcombe Fields. Please see here and here for more.

Mendip funds for Frome’s Missing Link cycle path:

Successful applicants who sought financial support through Mendip’s Communities Fund and Climate and Ecological Emergency Fund have received good news, including Frome’s Missing Link cycle path project which received a grant of £30,000 towards the construction of a traffic-free multi-user path between Whatcombe Fields in Frome and Great Elm. Please see here for more on this.

Frome’s People Budget projects will all be funded:

Frome Town Council has announced that all the community projects that applied for the People’s Budget Town vote will be funded and supported. The projects include a community bench with a noticeboard at Selwood Crescent, two community bike sheds, a mural in Trinity Area, a bat and bird box building project, a showcase of wildlife-rich land at Easthill, a den for Critchill, a Keyford neighbourhood community project, a celebration of the 10 years of Welshmill pump, and a project honouring local teacher David Titchener with a community sculpture at Frome Community College. Please see here for the news and here for descriptions of the projects. I and Drew are working to help gain MDC agreement to allow FTC to install the community bench with a noticeboard at Selwood Crescent, which was saved from development last year.

Green Homes Grants available for low-income Mendip residents:

Residents in Mendip on low incomes can now get help to access free energy efficiency improvements worth up to £10,000, to help ensure their home is warm, more energy efficient and affordable to live in – see here for details. Helping improve the energy efficiency of homes can reduce individual homeowners’ impacts on the climate and environment. The scheme is expected to run until March 2022, but will operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

Mendip has also successfully bid for funding, in partnership with the Centre of Sustainable Energy, to help support landlords to improve energy performance in their properties and meet their legal obligations – see here.

Local elections will be in May 2022:

The Government has now confirmed that the next local elections to the unitary Somerset Council will take place in May 2022 (see here). Somerset Council will be a ‘continuing authority’ based on Somerset County Council (instead of the original idea for a ‘new’ authority which would have been more expensive and legally demanding). Residents will get the chance to vote in a total of 110 councillors, doubling up the number of councillors in each existing Somerset County Council division. For the first year the new councillors will sit as county councillors and oversee the process to unitary. In April 2023 the county council and all four district councils will be abolished and become the new Somerset Council, with the new councillors serving a four year term from then.

Frome is divided into Frome North, East and West county divisions. The district council Frome College ward is part of the large Frome North division, which will elect 2 Somerset Councillors. Frome North also covers the villages of Beckington, Rode, Norton St Philip, Woolverton, Rudge, Berkley, Standerwick, Tellisford, Lullington, Lavington, part of Oldford, and the Innox part of Frome. Division boundaries are likely to change to reduce the number of councillors in future elections. Your candidates in the election will be confirmed in the next few weeks!

One of the key issues to be worked out (and the parties may differ on this) is how decision-making powers, assets and services will be shared or devolved by the new council based in Taunton with or to local elected councillors, parish (including Town) councils and other authorities through new Local Community Networks. One LCN is being piloted in and around Frome, initially dealing with services for children and young people, and the devolution issue is ‘live’ in our current meetings (see below).

Asset transfer ‘wish list’ for Frome – have your say:

One opportunity arising from the move to a unitary council is the potential to transfer some assets owned by Mendip District or Somerset County Council to Frome Town Council, so that they can be managed more locally, and more responsively to local needs and wants, either before or after the unitary council is created. Frome Town Council and Frome’s district and county councillors will be considering which assets could be on FTC’s ‘wish list’ which could be submitted to MDC in the next few weeks.

This follows recent transfers from MDC to FTC of the Boyle Cross and Egford Park. Over the last few years the Old Showfield, Packsaddle Park and Chapmans Close games area, and previously Welshmill Park and Rodden Meadow have all been transferred in some form to FTC, enabling these areas to be improved and managed I think successfully by FTC with the local community.

The wish list could include a number of open spaces, play areas and other assets in our area, so please let me know by Monday 10th January which local areas you would like to see transferred to FTC, so that your views can be taken into account before a meeting next week.

Mendip Full Council meeting approved Local Plan Part 2:

The Mendip Full Council meeting on 20th December covered a reduced agenda (and was held partly in person, partly virtual) due to Covid concerns. It covered the adoption of the Local Plan Part 2, a Joint Scrutiny Committee to help oversee local government reorganisation, taxi fares, licensing fees, and establishing the Council Tax base. The agenda, reports and a link to recording of the meeting, are here.

Upcoming council meetings:

The following council meetings are in the diary:

• Weds 5th January: Frome Town Council (FTC) Planning Committee meeting Part 1 – online at 7pm to consider the Mayday Saxonvale application – see agenda and how to register here.
• Thursday 6th January: FTC Planning Committee Part 2 – meeting online at 7pm to consider three major planning applications: 2019/3076/FUL – Land South of The Mount; 2020/0341/OTS – Land at Little Keyford Lane to The Mount; and 2021/1659/REM – Land North and South of Sandys Hill Lane – see agenda and how to register here.
• Monday 10th January: Mendip District Council (MDC) Cabinet, with updates on Mendip’s climate change policy, including an action plan, tree policy, draft planning guidance on energy efficiency, sustainable construction and renewable energy. See the agenda and reports (and a link to the live stream will appear nearer the time) here.
• 11th January: MDC briefing on the local government reorganisation.
• 11th January: Frome Councillor Forum, including on potential assets transfers and service devolution.
• Tuesday 18th January: MDC Scrutiny Climate and Ecological Emergency Working Group.
• N.B. 19th January’s MDC Planning Board has been cancelled.
• 19th January: FTC Full Council – agenda will appear here. Update: this includes a short presentation from Fair Frome; a proposal to request the acquisition of 21 local open spaces from Mendip in Frome; additional seating and planters around Boyle Cross; FTC’s consultation response to the Mayday Saxonvale planning application; the work programme, budget and precept (Council Tax take) for 2022/23; and an update to FTC’s Climate and
  Ecological Emergency strategy.
• Monday 24th January: MDC Scrutiny Board – agenda will appear here.
• 25th January: MDC Full Council – the agenda will appear here, which will include missed items from December’s meeting – housing enforcement policy, taxi fares and charges, mental housing, and climate update.
• 27th January: Frome Town Council Planning Committee – this will consider the Old Showfield toilets and other planning applications, and Mendip’s recent SPD – see here.
• Somerset County Council’s meetings calendar is here.

Meetings attended:

Over the last few months I have attended the following council-related meetings:

• 9th November: MDC briefing on the local government reorganisation (online).
• 11th November: Somerset Joint Scrutiny Proposals for Local Government Reorganisation (online)
• 16th November: MDC Scrutiny Board (in person): we considered the Somerset joint scrutiny proposals (I spoke on the proportionality of the Scrutiny committee), the MDC corporate performance (I asked about how much time the local government reorganisation is taking out of normal MDC work), the proposed Supplementary Planning Document on the interpretation of Local Plan Policy DP7: Design and Amenity of New development, incorporating guidance on energy efficiency, sustainable construction and renewable energy, and the Net Zero Carbon toolkit guidance, and the Scrutiny Climate & Ecological Emergency Working Group’s three point plan (see agenda and reports here).
• 17th November: Frome Town Council’s Full Council meeting: I tuned in online and asked a couple of questions, about tree protection and local community events (see agenda and reports here and the report of the meeting here).
• 25th November: MDC Scrutiny Working Group on Ending the Cycle of Disadvantage (online): discussed potential initiatives on council tax support, helping communities come together, and access to rural education.
• 1st December: MDC Audit Committee: I attended online (see agenda and reports here).
• 2nd December: MDC Strategic Leisure Board meeting (online): We had a presentation from Fusion on their annual review of operations at the five leisure centres leased from MDC, and I raised questions on Changing Places / disabled access, and sustainability/ renewable energy opportunities.
• 7th December: Frome Councillor Forum: Councillors from Town, District and County Councils met online to discuss the local government reorganisation, including the potential for transfer of assets (open spaces and buildings) and devolution of services (such as ground maintenance and street cleansing) from county or district to Town, and how the future Frome area Local Community Network could work with the Town and surrounding parish councils and other public agencies to take more local control of certain issues (the pilot project is looking at services for children and young people) as part of the future unitary council.
• 13th December: MDC group briefing on the Local Plan Part 2.
• 14th December: MDC briefing on local government reorganisation (online).
• 15th December: MDC Planning Board: in a virtual meeting, we determined* 7 planning applications (see agenda and reports here) including: the reopening a former railway cutting to form a link to the National Cycle Network (Strawberry Line) in Shepton Mallet (approved unanimously); four houses in Wanstrow (refused, for reasons relating to surface water drainage, land contamination, and sustainability); the variation of planning conditions at Northfield House, Baltonsborough (approved); a new affordable and ‘low impact’ self-build house at Totterdown Lane, Pilton (approved unanimously); a roadside cafe at West Pennard (approved unanimously); conversion of stable building to a 1-bed retirement dwelling, Marston Bigot (approved); and the retrospective creation of a vehicular access track at Whitehole Hill, Leigh-On-Mendip (approved). This took about 4 hours. [*N.B. the meeting was held online in order to avoid spreading Covid-19 and Omicron at the meeting, so the decisions made by councillors were advisory but will be made formally (in the way members advised) by the Chief Executive under emergency powers.]

And finally:

I and Drew have also been in touch with residents on:

• Unauthorised HGV washing in Fromefield;
• The potential transfer of more local open spaces to Frome Town Council;
• A park bench for Selwood Crescent green.

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/

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