An outline planning application has been submitted to Mendip District Council for the development of 107 new houses in a field on Cuckoo Hill, between Packsaddle Way, Innox Hill and Spring Gardens, and close to the River Frome downstream of the town. The submitted plans, reports and consultation comments, can all be found on Mendip […]

An outline planning application has been submitted to Mendip District Council by Frontier Estates for mixed uses (including a supermarket, other retail units, restaurants, offices/studios, a hotel, space for a relocated FETE education centre, car parking and open space; ref no. 2013/2260/OTS) at the mainly derelict site between Saxonvale and Garsdale, on land owned by […]

I have been working on a few things recently, in response to local residents concerns, which you have told me about on the doorstep, on the phone and by email: Flytipping on Gypsy Lane – Public Meeting to be held: Yesterday Mendip District Council’s Enforcement officers agreed to my suggestion to hold a public meeting […]

There is no such thing as the Dog Poo Fairy! I recently obtained some posters from a proactive local resident which say ‘There is no such thing as the dog poo fairy’ (from Keep Britain Tidy). I recently gained agreement from Mendip District Council officers to put them up, so I will be laminating and […]

Yesterday Mendip District Council’s Enforcement officers agreed to my suggestion to hold a public meeting with local residents to try and stamp out flytipping around Frome. Mendip District Council officers gave councillors a briefing on how they are tackling flytipping and other environmental crime.  There have been some successes across Mendip in bringing cases and […]

I was pleased to hear that the recent Great Frome Clean Up litter picks, at 7 locations around Frome, including Stonebridge, organised by HopeFrome and Friends of the River Frome, were a real success. I help publicise these events and encourage people to attend, and I help out when I can. Please get in touch […]

Update 8 January 2014: Network Rail’s Asset Engineer has just informed me that their Projects team has arranged to carry out the pigeon-proofing works on the Rodden Road railway bridge, with a temporary road closure from Somerset Highways, on 3rd March 2014.  This has been a long time coming, but will be welcome when it […]

Keep Frome Clean! Help clean up your part of Frome at this Saturday’s litter picks, 9th Nov 10.15am to 12 noon. HopeFrome and Friends of the River Frome have organised the next general Litter Pick on Saturday, 9 November 2013 from 10:30 – 12:00 noon. Meet at your chosen venue at 10:15am for a 10:30am start […]

‘… Let’s get together and feel all right. …’ The first public meeting of the ‘One Frome’ forum is at 7.00pm, Tuesday 29th October at Frome Medical Practice. This is a new initiative of Mendip District and Frome Town Councils, where councillors and officers from all three councils that serve our area (including Somerset County […]

Somerset Waste Partnership recently released county-wide figures for flytipping in 2012/13, which show an 8.7% fall across Somerset compared to 2011/12. Mendip district saw a 4.3% fall. It is good to see a fall in flytipping, but of course the statistics released by SWP do not tell the whole story.   In April 2011, cuts to […]

Update 15th October: Mendip’s Cabinet have approved the transfer of leases to Frome Town Council, subject to the Council entering into negotiations with Frome Town Council about whether the proposed fence to the children’s play area should be included in the Section 106 improvements fund. See the following joint press release here: http://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/3179/Town-council-to-take-over-leases-for-Frome-Showfield See also the […]

Next steps: A cross-party working group of Mendip Councillors is being set up to implement the resolution of the Motion, with the first meeting in early December. Links: – Text of agreed motion: Mendip District Council, 30 September 2013 meeting: see ‘Updating – Motion on Fracking’: http://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/2733/Monday-30-September-2013 – Somerset County Council Minerals Topic Paper on oil […]

Following previous articles (see bottom of this page), and recent discussions and decisions, I can now give a brief update on the latest situation on the plans to improve Frome’s old Showfield using funds from the Frome Medical Centre’s Section 106 Agreement. Frome Town Council recently applied to Mendip District Council’s Corporate Assets Management Group (CAMG) […]

This motion was agreed unanimously (only a few county cllrs abstained) last night at Mendip District Council’s full Council meeting at Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet: Motion to Council – 30th September 2013 Proposed – Councillors Harvey Siggs and Danny Unwin Seconded – Councillors Tom Killen and Adam Boyden Mendip District Council acknowledges the Governments view […]

Mendip Liberal Democrats are delighted that last night, at Mendip’s Full Council at Whitstone School in Shepton Mallet, a motion was unanimously passed regarding fracking.   This motion sets out the concerns of the council and seeks to provide safeguards to the district.  A joint motion between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives was agreed at […]

Joint Statement from Mendip District Councillors Richard Pinnock and Adam Boyden on the application to Mendip to designate land at Styles Hill/Rodden Lake Stream meadows as an Asset of Community Value: We are members of Mendip District Council’s Corporate Asset Management Group which held an emergency meeting recently to decide on the application by Frome […]

Mendip District Council’s next full council meeting, on 30th September, was to have seen two Motions on ‘fracking’ debated, one from the Mendip Liberal Democrats (see my previous post) and one from Mendip Conservatives’ leader and deputy leader, as well as a Presentation by officers and other local authorities.  A number of people will be speaking at […]

If you want to help keep local pubs open, or protect other important community buildings or land, and give the community a chance to bid to own them, there is good news – Mendip District Council has already registered two pubs as ‘Assets of Community Value’ under the Localism Act – the New Inn, in Priddy, and the Redan, in […]

The Mendip District Council Liberal Democrat group are calling on the Conservative Council administration to listen to the concerns of local people regarding the controversial act of hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’.  Fracking – the extraction of fossil fuel gas found deep underground – has been the focus of much national attention. The motion, which has […]

Radstock Co-operative Society has submitted a planning application to demolish the former Fromefield Surgery building, at the junction of Bath Road and Rodden Road, and to build a new convenience supermarket on the site. See the article in the Frome Standard here – http://www.fromestandard.co.uk/operative-store-planned-doctors-surgery-site/story-19593332-detail/story.html As one of the ward councillors for the Fromefield area on Mendip District Council, […]