A green space in Frome has been saved from being turned into houses following a long battle by campaigners.

Mendip District Council's cabinet voted in early-November 2020 to build more than 160 new homes across five sites in a partnership with Aster Housing – including up to 77 homes on the Easthill site in Frome.

The development of the Easthill site was paused in late-November 2020 following a backlash from local residents, who want the site to be preserved as an asset for the whole community.

The council has now formally withdrawn the field from its social housing programme, with the land being retained for a future extension of the neighbouring cemetery.

Bharati Phardy from the Friends of Easthill Field addressed the council's cabinet when it met in Shepton Mallet on Wednesday evening (May 26).

She said: "Our many supporters – including members of the community, councillors and petitioners – are very grateful indeed to Ros Wyke for her leadership in this bid to find alternatives for fulfilling the social housing quota, and for recognising the critical contribution that Easthill and other green spaces make.

"We urge Ros and the cabinet to look carefully at all options, and to do everything they can to protect nature and Frome's access to its precious green spaces, however humble they might appear.

"Every bit of green in the town is a welcome sight – a place to play, to engage with nature, which also hosts important wildlife.

"We truly believe that now is the time to make bold decisions for nature, and to find truly creative, community-based, well-informed solutions to the needs of vulnerable groups who really need homes."

Ms Phardy added she hoped the town council would eventually take over the running of the Easthill site and "safeguarded for its ecological value".

Ms Wyke had given assurances surrounding the field's future in March, but the cabinet could not consider it formally until late-May due to the local elections, when councils are barred from announcing any new policies or new spending.

The remaining four sites which will be taken forward by Aster (planning permission pending) are:

• Cemetery Lane in Street (33 houses adjoining the cemetery)
• Cranhill Road in Street (29 houses on the western half of the existing car park)
• North Parade in Frome (up to 17 homes on the rear part of the existing car park)
• Norbins Road in Glastonbury (six houses on the existing car park, with access to St John's School being retained)

Councillor Helen Kay welcomed the decision, but raised concerns about social housing being delivered on other green spaces in Frome.

The council announced on Monday (May 24) that it had formed a partnership with the Frome Area Community Land Trust and the Selwood Housing Group to deliver up to 30 new low-cost homes across nine different sites.

Ms Kay said: "About a quarter of these spaces are in my ward [Frome Keyford], on what was a council estate.

"This is an area that until recently was in the top 20 per cent most deprived parts of the country, and one of the best things about living on that estate is the fact that it's got loads of green spaces.

"We could buy some houses on some of the brownfield sites that are being developed, and hand them over to the community land trust to keep them in perpetuity for social housing tenants."

Ms Wyke promised that different options for delivering housing would be considered by the council's scrutiny board in the coming months.

She said: "The cost of any land or houses in Frome is significant, and there is a significant growth in need, and we are trying to respond to that."

Councillor Michael Dunk said he was concerned that any future unitary authority would not be able to guarantee Easthill's future for the community.

The four district councils are running a poll on the two options for Somerset's future governance until June 4, with the government expected to make a final decision in the summer.

Mr Dunk said: "I am concerned that a future council that's been re-arranged might see things differently.

"We need to look into how we can secure the future of that site in the long term, so it can only be used either as a burial site or a nature reserve, or something similar which keeps it intact.

"If we don't safeguard it now, we will be culpable in the future."

The cabinet voted to approve the removal of the Easthill site, though two councillors abstained from the vote.

The nine sites currently being considered for future development by the Selwood Housing Group are:

• Land at Farley Close
• Land at Hodders Close
• Hall behind 14 Randolph Road
• Land at Austin Close and Feltham Drive
• Land at Cranmore View and The Grove, including land either side of the B3090 Marston Road
• Land at the corner of Mendip Drive and Selwood Crescent
• Land at Grove Mead
• Land adjoining 45 Mountsfield
• Land at Tower View

To have your say on these sites, visit www.selwoodhousing.com/fairhomesproject before June 11.