The latest Frome Town Matters meeting, which for the first time was a hybrid, so partly happening inside the town hall while also being broadcast on line, councillors grappled with two thorny issues, starting with the arrival of parking meters on Weymouth Road.

After what has been three years of consultation, councillors were told that the proposed scheme, with only short stays left free on the road which is next to Victoria Park, will simply have a " ripple effect " pushing parking onto adjacent streets.

Speaking as a resident of Somerset Road, the first contribution came from Bob Ashford, who said that while there had been years of residents being asked their opinion, it was for an integrated scheme for parking controls across several streets, not just Weymouth Road.

He told the meeting his biggest concern was what would happen to the local Victoria Park, telling Frome Town Council: " We are concerned that any parking decisions now will have an impact on adjoining roads and, importantly, park users.

"Streets belong to the whole community not to just the residents... they belong the bowls club and the tennis club, giving ownership to one particular group is simply wrong."

Metering is only going to be put in, at as a first stage, along Weymouth Road - with fears that all day parking will not go away- it will just move away to other roads.

But he added : " But my main concern is about Victoria Park and the people who use it. It has been an absolute life saver for people, from older people, and young families, a good number of people who cannot walk there. Now they are going to find it extremely difficult to use the park because parking is going to be a nightmare."

Cllr John Nelson, who represents that ward in Frome said: " I would like to echo all that has been said, it seems curious that they are only implementing part of the scheme. If you just do one thing to one road, you just push (parking) elsewhere. But I am not sure there is anything we can do."

The Frome Town Clerk agreed to write to the Chief Executive of the County Council asking what is happening to the overall planned parking scheme and to get a clearer picture of what is being implemented.

You can read about the Weymouth Road plans by clicking HERE :

Frome Nub News on June 25

The discussion about the parking in Weymouth Road was the first item during a new hybrid meeting of Frome Town Matters.

Councillors were told that now local government meetings are back in person, as per government guidelines, the actual workings are now a mixture of formal and informal decisions. Voting took place within the Town Hall, with a handful of councillors present, while others attended over Zoom.

Only councillors present were able to vote, with other votes delegated to the Frome Town Council Clerk, and the meeting was declared business "as normal" , even if it did not feel like it.

Another issue that caused much debate was a vote on whether to use a herbicide, previously banned by Frome Town Council, to tackle two outbreaks of the highly invasive Japanese Knotweed on council land.

The motion was to use a herbicide containing glyphosate to kill off the weed which is markedly resilient to other forms of control.

The use of the chemical was banned by the council in 2016, but councillors were told that the weed, which has been found on the banks of the River Frome at Welshmill and in Henley Way is almost impossible to eradicate.

Councillors heard that Mendip Council is currently tackling Japanese Knotweed at the Saxonvale site, while developers are also trying to combat it at The Retreat; but in both cases the weed, even when it is dug up, will return and cause huge damage.

The council voted by a majority to amend the decision to use the herbicide, as a one off, and only for these two sites. The work will be carried out by dedicated contractors.

Two other pieces of news from the meeting:

Last weekend's bike jumble in Frome was hugely successful and over £3,000 was raised in aid of Frome Missing Links, with a special thanks offered to newly established Frome business Pronto bikes for hosting the raffle.

And finally during an update on from the marketing team at Frome, it was reported that the new Mayor has started the year with what was called "social gusto". The council page about Cllr Andy Wrintmore was visited 300 times in just his first week in office.