On May 5th I was elected as one of your two new Somerset County Councillors for Frome North division (covering the parishes of Beckington, Berkley, Lullington, Norton St Philip, Rode, and Tellisford, and College and Innox wards in Frome – see here). This is my ‘monthly’ newsletter about council related goings on here. If you don’t already subscribe by email you can by emailing me at cllrboyden@gmail.com.

I also help form the new Lib Dem majority group on the County Council, which won 61 of the 110 seats (see here for results in Frome). Until April, I am also still a Mendip District Councillor for Frome College ward (with Drew Gardner), and on 1st April 2023, both the county and district councils will be replaced by the unitary Somerset Council. It’s going to be an interesting time.

County Council news:

The new Leader and Executive (formerly Cabinet) were announced at Somerset County Council’s Annual General Meeting in May. Bill Revans was elected Leader, Liz Leyshon is Deputy Leader and Sarah Dyke (Lib Dem prospective parliamentary by-election candidate for Somerton & Frome) is lead for Environment and Climate Change – a full list is here. I was appointed Vice-Chair of the new Environment Scrutiny Committee, and a substitute member of the Regulation Committee.

A new Chief Executive is being appointed for SCC and the new Somerset Council, after the current chief announced his departure (see here). The job description and salary were agreed at on 15th June (see here). The new appointment will be decided at SCC’s next Full Council meeting on 20th July (see here) after a recommendation from the Appointments Committee (here) that Duncan Sharkey be appointed.

On 1st July, Somerset County Council published papers which show the scale of the financial challenge facing the new Somerset Council. Officers had previously identified the need to make £28 million of savings for the new council, but inflation and demand for services have increased that budget gap to £44 million. Good financial management and monitoring has identified the potential overspend early but this will be a very challenging budget for the new Somerset Council. The full statement can be seen here. 

The new Lib Dem administration also issued a statement on 1st July on ‘Somerset County Council Under the Lib Dems At 50 Days’ on the challenges ahead – please see here. There will be more to say on the Local Community Network for Frome next month. 

SCC has also published a new Children and Young People’s Plan, with the help of young people (see here).

Support for Ukrainian refugees:

A new webpage has been set up to provide information and support for Somerset households who have volunteered to sponsor Ukrainian refugees – see here. The Frome Welcomes Refugees group also reports back on hosts positive experiences here, and asks for more hosts and English teachers to come forward to help.

Cost of living help:

A lot of people are now struggling with energy bills and the costs of living. Somerset residents who are struggling could be eligible for support with the cost of food, energy, water, and other essentials over the coming months. Somerset County Council has been allocated £3.8m to distribute before 30th September as part of the second round of the Government’s Household Support Fund. Please see here for details and how to apply.

SCC and Mendip as well as Frome Town Council are all looking into what more they can do to help. A Lib Dem motion by cllr Barry O’Leary on this issue was passed unanimously at Mendip DC’s full council meeting in May (see page 4 here), and a summit is now being organised. Somerset County Council will also consider motions on this at the next meeting on Wednesday 20th July (see here).

Heatwave advice:

Please see the Met Office website here. Somerset’s advice on keeping safe during the hot weather is here. Public health updates on Covid and other health issues in Somerset are also here.

Somerset Waste Partnership is also asking for people’s patience as the hot weather and staff shortages delay some recycling collections – see here.

Highways update, including major temporary road closure at Bath Road/Oldford Hill in early August:

As a county councillor it is also now my job now to raise road safety issues with SCC Highways officers and help find solutions, either in the councillor-led Small Improvement Scheme (SIS) process or officer-led safety schemes, or operational management work, working with parish/town councils and Community Speedwatch (CSW) teams and taking soundings from local residents. I have also recently had CSW training on Bath Road to join the local team (see below).

The previous county councillor’s Small Improvement Scheme for the Cuckoo Lane/Bath Road/Oldford Hill is being implemented soon, which is good. I saw the aftermath of the recent accident there – be careful out there! The works will reduce the speed limits around the junction and hope to improve visibility and safety. The works are expected to commence on 1st August 2022 with a full road closure, and last for 12 days – please see here for details. I have informed the Somerset Bus Partnership, and am looking into what arrangements are being made for bus services to be diverted.

I* have been in discussions with SCC Highways about the need for further safety improvements at the Rode Hill/Bradford Road junction. A review is now being done and a scheme of safety improvements is being drawn up by SCC officers to finish the previous SIS, including high friction surfacing (parish councillors requested rumble strips) and two vehicle-activated signs to warn drivers of the junction ahead and to slow down, on which the parish council will be consulted. The Stop sign also needs replacing on the northbound Bradford Road direction, and Rode’s village-wide 20 mph speed limit and ‘village gateway’ signs are also awaited.

We also met SCC officers and Frome College on the emerging ‘schools 20’ signs proposal, which will see flashing signs asking drivers around Frome College to slow down to 20mph during pupil rush hours, and hope a proposal can be agreed and implemented for Autumn term.

In late June I (*and fellow Frome North county councillor Dawn Denton) met the Community Speed Watch team on site in Farleigh Hungerford. We agreed to take forward the issues of a fixed speed camera on the A366 and reducing the speed limit on Tellisford Road with SCC Highways, and to look into a number of other local issues with the parish and district councillor. I also discussed the speeding issue with a couple of concerned local residents there.

We are also going to meet with Norton St Philip parish councillors (and the NSP CSW lead) in the next few weeks to be briefed on and discuss their previous Traffic Day and speeding issues and priorities in the village, and will then take the issues arising across our area up with SCC Highways officers, along with highways issues in all other parts of the division. 

Out and About in Frome North:

Since being elected to Somerset I have been to many council meetings and briefings both locally in Frome and the rural parish councils (including at Beckington, Norton St Philip, Berkley and Rode parish councils), and in Taunton and at Mendip and online. A run through of these and the issues raised, including Local Community Networks, highways safety and speeding, fly nuisance, flytipping, and school provision at Edmund Park, and a list of meetings attended is all here.

I’ve also been in discussions about:

• potential Changing Places facilities for the Frome Sports & Leisure Centre, and in Victoria Park, following Mendip DC’s successful bid for Government funding
• tree works and grass cutting
• waste and recycling collections
• GP appointments
• Thomas Bunn Close road resurfacing
• potential Westbury western bypass affecting Beckington and Berkley parishes

Upcoming meetings:

• 20th July am: SCC Full Council meeting, Yeovil (see here), including motions on ecology, the cost of living, and Local Community Networks.
• 20th July pm: MDC Planning Board (see here) including consideration of the revised Commerce Park application (item 7 here).
• 21st July: Meeting with Wessex Water about fly nuisance around Frome sewage works (see here).
• 21st July, 7pm: Frome Town Council Planning Committee (see here – nothing in College ward this month).
• 26th July: Frome Councillors Forum.
• 3rd August: Frome Area pilot Local Community Network, at Frome Town Council.

Revised Commerce Park planning application to be considered:

The ‘Malthouse Lane Business Centre’ planning application to develop the last vacant plots on the south side of the Commerce Park for 61 small business units in nine buildings and a single industrial building (in two 15,000 sq.ft. units) has been revised and is being reconsidered at Mendip District Council’s Planning Board on Wednesday 20th July. The changes include the omission of all the previously proposed B2 (general industrial) elements of the scheme, and the provision of solar panels and improvements to the Coalway Lane footpath, which I and other Planning Board members (and the Coalway Lane Residents Association) had raised as concerns – see here for details.

Update on Packsaddle fields:

I have had an update from Live West’s Land Director and newly appointed communications consultant about their timescales for preparing an initial development layout and consulting residents and local councils before submitting a planning application at fields off Packsaddle Way- please see here for more.

Update on fly nuisance around Frome Sewage Works:

Wessex Water will be meeting me and other local councillors, Mendip’s Environmental Health Officer and some local residents, to run through the results of the netting trial at the Frome Water Recycling Centre (sewage works) and update us on their plans to tackle the fly nuisance problem. I sent them the report of the residents survey so they are fully aware of what residents have experienced. Please let me know if you are interested in attending. The company has also recently written to residents about their plans – please see here for details. I will report back.

Electric vehicle charging points being installed:

Some 43 electric vehicle charging points are being installed in 13 MDC car parks this summer, including three each in Cattle Market, Badcox and North Parade car parks in Frome (see here). These will be 22kW Alfen Twin chargers. EV owner and fellow Frome College ward Lib Dem councillor Drew Gardner has also been working on a more rapid charger scheme – details to follow. This will hopefully encourage more residents, businesses and visitors to make the switch to electric vehicles, resulting in cleaner air and a lower contribution to climate change.

Frome’s Green Breather Days:

Following feedback on the second of the planned Green Breather Days in Frome (18th June), the Town Council cancelled the remaining three – see here. There was positive feedback from people experiencing a quieter traffic free town centre, and it was good to see the bright yellow solar powered electric bus in town and talk with local bus campaigners and the new SCC Executive member for Transport Mike Rigby and MDC councillors Janine Nash and Drew Gardner. However, serious concerns were raised about the impacts on footfall in the town centre by some businesses, and I think because the second GBD in June was not postponed to avoid the temporary traffic lights at Portway and Locks Hill, traffic jams in that area were considerably longer as a result, so the Town Council had a rethink. FTC have since written about encouraging active travel – town walks, e-bikes, and bus services and car clubs, which you might find useful here.

Somerset Green Open Homes webinar:

On 21st July at 7pm the next Somerset Green Open Homes live webinar will be looking at two very different properties with some very interesting technical solutions to reducing carbon emissions at home, including solar panels, heat batteries, house batteries and a water source heat pump – please join online here.

Trial launched for communities to re-wild Mendip land:

Mendip District Council has launched a pilot project in Wells to unlock pockets of land for community groups to re-wild. As part of its Greener and Cleaner priority, the Council is identifying green spaces in Mendip to increase biodiversity and allow nature to thrive, be known as Mendip Ecological Areas (MEAs). MDC is looking for individuals, groups or organisations willing to take on wildflower planting, eco-cutting and other activities in the MEAs to create sustainable habitats for bees, butterflies and other wildlife, to enhance habitats and create corridors for pollinators. The project will run for a year and if successful, the rewilding of other suitable green areas will be rolled out across the district (which would be taken up by Somerset Council after April 2023). Please see here for more.

National recognition for Mendip’s ‘wasted food’ project:

Mendip District Council has won the ‘Net Zero Partnership’ Award at the national Regulatory Excellence Awards 2022, for partnership working on its wasted food pilot project. This has supported hospitality businesses in Mendip to reduce their food waste, save money and help them do their bit for the planet – see here.

Update on Local Community Networks:

Somerset’s County and District councils have set out their plan for developing new Local Community Networks (LCNs) – groups that will be established in every part of the County to support decision-making at its most local level – see here for an update and timeline. I know the Town and parish councils are concerned to get this right.

Open space transfers update:

Earlier this year Frome Town Council requested a number of public open spaces owned by Mendip District Council be transferred to the Town Council, including in the Frome College ward area which I encouraged and supported (see here). MDC’s response included offering medium term leases for spaces including at Brunel Way and Hawksworth Close play area, and refusing to transfer other spaces including Selwood Crescent Green. FTC and I are seeking details of the reasons and a meeting to discuss further.

Community Speed Watch needs you:

Community Speed Watch is an educational scheme to help people reduce speeding traffic though their community, raises awareness of the dangers of speeding and helps control the problem. There are speeding concerns in some areas in Frome North, and active Community Speed Watch groups in parts of Frome and in Beckington, Norton St Philip, Farleigh Hungerford, Rode and Woolverton. However, these could always do with more volunteers, and some parts of Frome with speeding issues do not have a local group yet, such as Fromefield (where 70% of people responding to a survey last year agreed with the need for a 20 mph speed limit).

So if you are concerned at all about speeding in your area and want to help reduce it, please watch the video here and take the online test (easy if you pay attention). You will then have a roadside training session with the local CSW Coordinator, and need to commit to an hour or two a month to help. The more people involved the better!

Sad news:

Tributes have been paid to two long serving Mendip District and Somerset County councillors who have sadly died recently – Nigel Taylor and Nigel Woolcombe-Adams. I knew them both as Cabinet members at Mendip in the Conservative administration up to 2019, and Nigel Woolcombe-Adams as a continuing member of Mendip’s Planning Board. Both were always courteous, witty and good humoured and will be very sadly missed. Please see here, here and here for their tributes.

Pride:

In June I joined Mendip District Council staff and councillors in a short ceremony at its in Shepton Mallet offices, to celebrate Pride month by raising the rainbow flag in support of LGBTQ+ communities in Mendip and to commemorate Stonewall, and Deputy Leader cllr Barry O’Leary delivered a personal speech to describe what Pride meant to him (see here).

Somerton & Frome update:

Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton has been readmitted to hospital (see here). The MP was suspended from the Conservative Party following allegations in the press earlier this year, and is now the subject of two parliamentary investigations – the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (looking into claims by a number of women) and the parliamentary Standards Commissioner (into potential paid advocacy and failure to declare an interest or register a gift) (see here). A number of people have called for a recall petition, but this can only be triggered by specific circumstances – see here. In the meantime, Sarah Dyke has been selected as the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate if a byelection is called, please see here and get in touch with Sarah at sarah4somerset@gmail.com if you can help.

I hope this is useful, and please let me know any concerns or issues.

Thanks,

Adam Boyden

Lib Dem Mendip District Councillor for Frome College ward, and Somerset County Councillor for Frome North division

Email: cllrboyden@gmail.com, adam.boyden@somerset.gov.uk and cllr.boyden@mendip.gov.uk

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