The first of 1,700 new homes at Frome's southern edge could begin construction within 18 months if councillors approve plans early next week.

Outline plans were submitted in August 2021 for the Selwood Garden Community (SGC), which would see green fields between the A361 and the southern edge of Frome transformed into a substantial new community, including new commercial space, a primary school and a riverside park.

The plans have undergone two major revisions since they were first submitted – a rethink in September 2022 (which was branded "all sizzle and no steak" by local campaigners) and further changes being announced in early-March 2024.

Somerset Council will decide on Tuesday (December 3) whether this major expanding of one of the county's largest towns should go ahead – with the first homes beginning to see the light of day in the spring of 2026.

Prior to this crucial meeting of the council's planning committee east (which handles major applications in the former Mendip area), the Local Democracy Reporting Service sat down with senior figures within the SGC project team.

In addition to the new homes, the development will also include a local centre and community hub (which will include shops, restaurants and offices), more than 25,000 sq m of employment space, two residential care homes (providing a combined total of 105 beds), a 420-place primary school, playing fields, allotments, orchards and new pedestrian and cycle routes.

Matthew Kendrick, director at Grassroots Planning, said: "We looked at the whole of Frome some time ago. We didn't just look specifically at this site, we looked at where the best options for growth were.

"When we talked originally to the landowners and then the town council, everyone sort of came to the conclusion that the A361 bypass is the natural barrier to development and sort of like a rounding-off point.

"We wanted to create a mixed use community. You probably could have got about 2,300 homes in here, but we wanted to create jobs as well.

"We want to provide the ability for people, if they want to, to live and work on the same site – and the self-containment of Frome would be improved by having more employment space."

The most recent masterplan for the site seeks to strike a balance between high-density housing (allowing for larger numbers of residents in a small area) and providing enough space for vital infrastructure, including electric vehicle charging points and decently-sized gardens.

James Tizzard, acquisitions, project management and sales lead at Land Value Alliances, said:

"We've gone beyond your old sort of style of terracing because people live differently now.

"Terracing forms part of one of the character areas and town-houses form parts of the other areas. But we've created green streets at the front of the terracing – they're pedestrian-only roads and then we've kept the parking to the rear of the terraces.

"You need all types of housing, because you're dealing with all types of need and demand."

Around 40 per cent of the site will be set aside public open space, nature reserves or other green landscaping, mitigating the impact of the new homes on bats and other local species.

One of the significant changes from the original 2021 was the removal of any housing or commercial space on a small parcel of land on the southern side of the A361.

This parcel has now been replaced with a local nature reserve following feedback from Selwood Parish Council.

Of the 1,700 homes proposed for the site, 30 per cent will be affordable – the equivalent of 510 homes, which will be a mixture of social rented, shared ownership and other low-cost options.

Mr Tizzard said that the viability of the site had been carefully considered at every step of the process to ensure that all the necessary infrastructure could be delivered – including improvements to the Beckington and White Post roundabouts.

He said: "In this scheme, we have more than £29m allocated within the Section 106 agreement, including funding for off-site highway improvements.

"We've looked at the phasing plans and how this can come forward, and we then costed each element of that, because it's got to work.

"There's a housing crisis, and we need to be able to deliver those affordable homes – so there's no point in coming forward with the scheme, then questioning whether it's viable and reducing affordable housing numbers down.

"We have costed every element of this, even down to retaining walls, foundations and costs within that, to make sure that the early phases still work."

Phase one of the planned scheme will see the construction of a new roundabout and spine road leading from the B3090 Marston Road, as well as the delivery of the aforementioned nature reserve.

This phase will also see the delivery of major commercial space at the south-eastern corner of the site, providing residents with employment opportunities as well as allowing businesses to relocate to the Frome area.

A new roundabout will be delivered on the A361 (at what is colloquially known as 'Ski Jump Hill') as part of the second phase, which will complete the spine road via the 'local centre' and the primary school site.

The timing of some elements, such as the primary school, will depend on external factors – such as Somerset Council's pupil forecasts and the pressure on the existing primary schools within the town.

One element of the original scheme which will not be taken forward was a solar farm on Burchill Lane, with plans for this element being withdrawn in April 2022.

Mr Kendrick said: "That had a lot of objection to it, so we changed the approach. We've got to 50 per cent renewable generation within the site boundary."

Because Frome does not lie within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area, the developers of the SGC site will not have to provide any additional phosphate mitigation.

Despite this, the project team are keen to deliver increased biodiversity within the site and deliver prominent green wedged within the development – including a riverside park with improved footpaths linking the site to others along the River Frome.

Mr Tizzard said: "We've got wet attenuation basins that become constant features, and cascading water features that come through.

"All of that will be delivered at a very early stage because of the nature of where the site drains down to the river.

"After we engaged with the Friends of the River Frome, we introduced another wetland down at the bottom of the masterplan, which isn't required technically but has wider benefits."

If councillors vote to approve the plans on Tuesday afternoon (November 3), the SGC project team will then move forward with several development partners with a view to starting work on the first phase within 18 months' time.

Mr Tizzard said: "You'd have probably  two developers in phase one, with the estate road going in, and two different developers coming forward off that.

"There's a huge demand in Frome, and housing providers are lined up to deliver the work with the developers and ourselves to take the affordable housing."

Mr Kendrick added: "Statistically, something of this scale between outline planning permission being granted and first completion is normally 1.6 years.

"Someone picking this project up has a pretty straightjacketed set of requirements – so a developer should be able to do a reserved matters application for each parcel very quickly.

"You're looking at spring 2026 for the first completions."

The northernmost elements of the development will skirt very close to several housing developments currently being delivered in the Keyford area – including the Keyford Meadows site being built out by Curo (comprising 198 homes and commercial space) and the Keyford on the Green site (comprising 70 homes, being built out by Wain Homes).

Mr Kendrick said that the delivery of the Selwood Garden Community would not conflict with these projects, and traffic measures had been included to reduce the number of vehicles using Little Keyford Lane.

He said: "Originally we proposed a proper link, widening Little Keyford Lane – but because of concerns from the locals, we actually changed that.

"Now it's a bus gate – beyond this point, you can't travel through in a car.

"The other developments are quite far advanced this area – there's definitely be some overlap, but the construction management plan will be doing will be completely different.

"They're all coming through the town because there isn't really any other option here. Our main point of access will be from the A361, not going through the town."

An all-day meeting of the council's planning committee east will take place within the former Mendip District Council offices in Shepton Mallet on Tuesday (December 3).

The Selwood Garden Community plans are due to be debated in the afternoon session, which will begin at 2pm. The meeting will be live-streamed via the council's official website for those unable to attend in person.