The controversial planning application for Packsaddle Fields has been formally put into Somerset, with an application for 74 homes along with a children's home for youngsters with disabilities.

Within the application, lodged by LiveWest, there is a Historic Environment Assessment from a visit to the site in January 2023, in which the area's historical and environmental importance is listed.

One is that close by there are three historic environment records :

1. the site of a possible WWII pillbox visible on 1947 aerial photographs
2. a county school shown on a 1930 map
3. a folly garden created in the early 20th century by the property owner to match the name of his house, Mount Pleasant

However the report concludes, that these, along with many other historical details of the Packsaddle area are of Low Significance. The full report on the historical importance of the site, with lots of detail about how Frome itself grew, is HERE

The developers insist that the 3.4 hectares of green space can and should be repurposed for housing, while campaigners against the development insist that the green space needs to be protected and homes could more sympathetically build elsewhere. They want the fields, untouched for half a century, to remain as valuable green space and need protecting.

In the application, LiveWest have already stated that they will need some compromise on the level of affordable housing on offer because of the additional costs of water and sewage delivery to the site. They were committed to offering 22 homes as being affordable, so 30% of the total number.

The Packsaddle Fields are to the north of Frome and were once part of the former royal forest of Selwood.

Full details under the planning portal reference 2023/0864/FUL