Two rival visions for the future of Frome town centre are competing for locals' allegiance as a public consultation looms.

The Saxonvale site lies in the heart of Frome, a major brownfield site where some of the town's most prominent industries were once based.

The site, which is owned by Somerset Council, has been derelict for many years amid efforts to regenerate the area.

Two different visions have been put forward for the site – one by property developer Acorn Property Group, the other by local not-for-profit organisation Mayday Saxonvale.

Both sides have made their case for the last few years, with local councillors making decisions and residents having numerous opportunities to express their support for one scheme or the other.

Later this month, a public consultation event will be held on the fine details of part of Acorn's vision – an event which will take place in the shadow of an impending legal challenge by Mayday Saxonvale against the council.

It may take many years for either scheme to be successfully implemented – and it's been a long and winding road just to get to this stage.

Here's everything you need to know about the ongoing saga of Saxonvale:

Where is the Saxonvale site?

The Saxonvale site lies in the heart of Frome town centre, being bordered by the River Frome to the north, the Merchant's Barton car park to the west, the existing properties on Vicarage Street to the south and the town's Lidl store to the east.

The 12-acre site is currently sealed off to the public, but has road access leading into it from two sides: Garsdale to the east and Saxonvale itself to the west (near the Silk Mill Studios).

Saxonvale was purchased by Mendip District Council in 2018, with the council purchasing land that once belonged to Notts Industries and Terramond.

Since then, the council has been working with the Acorn Property Group to bring forward sensitive proposals to regenerate the area.

The site is allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II (which has since been carried over to Somerset Council) to deliver a minimum of 250 homes along with commercial space and additional town centre car parking.

Why is the site so important?

Achieving a balance between residential and commercial premises is crucial for the future of Frome.

The town is short of low-cost, genuinely affordable housing, but also needs commercial space within the town centre to prevent firms from either moving to out-of-town business parks (like the Commerce Park) or from leaving Frome altogether.

Andy Palmer, President of the Frome Chamber of Commerce, said: "Frome has always done really, really well in terms of incubating small start-up businesses until they get to a specific size.

"Once they get to the next stage, generally what happens is they have to move out and move to west Wiltshire, they take their jobs with them and obviously, that has a massive knock-on effect on the economy locally.

"Saxonvale is massively important. We've already lost a multitude of employment space over the last 20 years, and a number of the brownfield sites have been redeveloped.

"Effectively, you can build houses within certain parameters anywhere. What you can't do is replace lost employment space in a town centre, which would just add to, not only the local economy but the local community as well."

A number of major brownfield sites in Frome have been redeveloped over the last 20 years to deliver more than 1,110 homes – including the former Butler, Tanner and Dennis Printworks off Caxton Road (where 158 homes are being delivered by Acorn) and the former Cuprinol factory site of Adderwell Road (where Persimmon Homes is planning to deliver 25 new properties).

Andrew Barr-Sim, managing director of the Vallis Group in Frome – which has registered for space in Saxonvale – said: "We are about to raise money for a global expansion and we're going to need more people.

"The two options we have are either to move to bespoke offices in the middle of Frome, or we will have to relocate to Bath, it really is as simple as that.

"Obviously, my strong preference would be to be in Frome, it's where I come from and where we've built the business. To bring 40 young graduates into somewhere like Frome, in the centre, would be absolutely perfect.

"Otherwise, I'm afraid we'd have to go into Bath to get that size and scale to be able to expand."

What does the Acorn proposal entail?

Acorn – which has offices in Bath and Bristol – proposes building 300 homes on the site, of which 24 per cent (the equivalent of 72 properties) will be affordable.

The site will also include at least 45,000 sq ft of "flexible commercial space" (including restaurants, cafés and shops) and a co-working office scheme (providing 25,000 sq ft of workspace), creating up to 500 new local jobs.

The plans also include a riverside park and a bridge to link the Saxonvale site to Willow Vale, Rodden Meadow and the existing cycle route, which links the site to Frome railway station.

The signed legal agreements committee to more than £1m for local schools and £745,000 for "much-needed highway improvements" around the site, including Garsdale and the Gorehedge roundabout.

A spokesman said: "The aim is to bring a range of start-up and live/work properties to the area, in which small business owners, creatives and entrepreneurs can live above their work premises.

"The homes will include a mix of houses and apartments with private gardens and balconies, designed to a high-quality finish and enabling a work from home lifestyle."

At what stage is the Acorn vision?

The Acorn scheme has the unusual quirk of securing outline planning permission from Mendip's planning board twice – once in January 2021, and again in September 2021.

The council's asset management group voted in late-August 2022 to approve the Section 106 agreement for the Acorn scheme – promising that both this and the Mayday schemes will be fairly evaluated, with the scheme which provides the best value to taxpayers being taken forward.

Acorn is now bringing forward detailed proposals (known as reserved matters) for the different elements of the site, beginning with the riverside park, the children's play area and the bridge connecting the site to Willow Vale.

Ahead of formal plans for this riverside park being submitted, Frome residents are invited to give their thoughts at a consultation event on May 25.

Amy Proctor, strategic partnerships manager for Acorn's Bristol office, said: "We are excited to bring forward this first detailed application for the long-awaited development. With a new team of architects on board, we have spent many months working behind the scenes.

"We have new ideas which we want the community to see and share their views on. We are bringing the park and footbridge forward first as it is technically challenging but key to the development.

"We encourage local people to come forward and review our initial ideas, this is your opportunity to inform the future of this development, and we really want to hear from you."

The detailed proposals for the remainder of the site, including the commercial space, homes and phasing of Saxonvale are currently being developed and will be brought forward for consultation later this year.

What does the Mayday Saxonvale proposal involve?

Mayday Saxonvale (a not-for-profit group based in Frome) proposes a much smaller number of homes for the site, topping out at 182 rather than 300.

It promises that 40 per cent of these will be affordable (the equivalent of 73 properties) – much higher than Acorn has managed to achieve.

Additionally, the Mayday plans will include more than 118,000 sq ft of employment space, with "a wide mix of different spaces for new and established businesses and organisations", ranging from live/work units to retail outlets.

The site will also include a hotel and spa, a music and performance space, a lido and a riverside park with a connection towards Willow Vale and Rodden Meadow.

The draft legal agreement for the site make concrete pledges towards the following:

• Providing public open space, landscaping and ecological improvements
• A new footbridge over the River Frome to link the site to Willow Vale
• £827,848.78 towards local education provision (off-site)
• Pedestrian and cycle links between the site and Vicarage Street
• Traffic calming measures on Church Road, Vicarage Street and the nearby roundabout
• The realignment of the A362 Garsdale roundabout
• Contributing £246.444.68 towards improving the Gorehedge junction

At which stage is the Mayday Saxonvale vision?

Mendip District Council's planning board voted to approve the Mayday plans in July 2022.

A draft Section 106 agreement was sent to the council in October 2022 and was backed by the planning board in December 2022; however, the agreement has not yet been signed by the new Somerset Council.

A spokesman for Mayday Saxonvale said: "The council's solicitor responded that they could not engage with us to complete the Section 106 agreement, unless we could evidence a contract to buy the site.

"We do not have a contract at this point, as the council won't engage with us – so we are in a catch-22 position."

Mayday Saxonvale claims that more than 100 businesses have already pledged interest in the commercial element of its vision for the site, making it already oversubscribed.

More than 200 people gathered within the Saxonvale site at dawn on May Day, singing a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs, dancing and making flower garlands in support of the Mayday scheme.

Mayday Saxonvale director Damon Moore said: "Four years ago, we established Mayday Saxonvale with a small group of people singing on the site at dawn.

"To join today more than 200 people, who got out of bed before 6am, in solidarity and hope of new beginnings here in Saxonvale was just an absolutely incredible experience.

"This site is for us, for our community. It's not be be exploited for profit, it's to be regenerated to benefit us all, for Frome and for our future.

"Spring is a season of renewal and regeneration – symbolising starting fresh and starting over. Now as we have gained our outline planning permission, and with the dawn of the new Somerset Council, it's a new day and a new hope for the future of Saxonvale in Frome."

Mayday Saxonvale representatives have described the Acorn consultation on the riverside park as "an exercise in community-washing", designed to distract residents from the high-density residential elements of the regeneration scheme.

A spokesman said: "Consulting on a riverside park area, which both plans contain, is an exercise to deflect from the substance of a scheme which the community of Frome has rejected.

"Acorn has previously held a consultation on their plans for the entire

Saxonvale site. Concerns raised by residents, the town council, the Frome Civic Society and the Frome Chamber of Commerce were not addressed, and they simply ploughed on with their high density residential scheme.

"The fact still remains that the Acorn plan does not provide enough commercial space and has a minimal expansion of Frome's town centre.

"Their plan is still in breach of the council's requirement of desperately

needed affordable homes and continues to consist of four- to five-storey

apartments in a linear grid, which is extremely out of character in Frome."

What does the judicial review mean for the site?

Frustrated with Mendip District Council's approach, Mr Moore lodged a judicial review against the council in February.

This judicial review (which will be heard by the High Court) contends that the council did not follow its own planning policies when it granted permission to the Acorn scheme, by allowing fewer affordable homes and a lower-than-acceptable amount of employment space.

The High Court has granted permission for the review to proceed – but no date for the hearing in London has yet been set.

Somerset Council has confirmed that it will contest the review, but has allegedly refused to engage with Mayday Saxonvale further.

A Mayday spokesman said: "We had our first meeting with Somerset Council prior to it taking office on April 1. However, the council has now indicated that they cannot engage with Mayday further until the case concludes.

"We have offered a 'formal pause' in proceedings, to allow time for the council to assess which scheme to proceed with. We are awaiting their feedback and hopefully we can continue positive engagement with the council soon."

What happened to the Homes England funding?

Mendip District Council was awarded £3,935,000 from Homes England, which had to be spent on decontaminating the site, removing vegetation, disconnecting utilities and other measures to 'unlock' future development.

The grant originally had to be spent by December 31, 2021, with Homes England subsequently extending the deadline to March 31, 2022 and again to March 31 this year to give the council more time.

Somerset Council has confirmed that it managed to spend £3,573,000 of this grant before the final deadline – meaning £362,000 went unused.

A spokesman said: "Due to the delays resulting from the judicial review Mendip District Council was not able to fully utilise the Homes England grant, spending £3.573m by the extended deadline of March 31, 2023.

"The grant money was claimed in arrears on proof of expenditure; therefore, no money needed to be returned.

"There is no further extension available. The £362,000 of un-utilised grant funding was retained by Homes England."

"The unused grant funding was earmarked for the demolition of derelict and redundant structures on site."

Is there any scope for further government funding?

In short, it's unlikely.

Mendip District Council and South Somerset District Council put forward a joint bid to the second round of the government's levelling up fund in 2022, aiming to secure £10m towards delivering the 'western warehouse' arts venue in Frome and co-working space in Wincanton.

This bid, like two others in Somerset, proved unsuccessful – with feedback from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) expected to be made public before bids open for the third round.

Somerset Council has said it has "no current plans" to include the Saxonvale site in any future levelling up bid – though the final list of projects won't be settled upon for a little while.

The success of the levelling up bids depends to some extent on the willingness of the local MP to support the bid – with a £19.3m bid to enhance Cheddar, Highbridge and Shepton Mallet failing to attract the support of Wells MP James Heappey.

Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton is currently suspended from the ruling Conservative Party and is still being investigated by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commissioner more than a year after the whip was withdrawn.

What happens next?

The Acorn public consultation event will be held at the Frome Town Council chambers on the A362 Christchurch Street West on Thursday, May 25 between 3pm and 7pm.

For those unable to attend in person, the plans will be available for review and feedback forms provided via www.saxonvaleredevelopment.org.

Following the consultation, a full planning application for this element of the Acorn proposals will be submitted in the summer.

The date for the Mayday Saxonvale judicial review will be announced shortly, with the judgement expected to be published before the end of the year.

For more information on the Mayday Saxonvale plans, visit www.maydaysaxonvale.co.uk.

All future decisions on planning applications regarding the Saxonvale site will be taken in public by the council's planning committee east, which makes decisions on major applications for the former Mendip area.

A council spokesman said "The judicial review process has delayed decisions and the development of the site. However, it will not prejudice any future decisions.

"We are committed to bringing this long-derelict site back into a viable, sustainable use and a decision on how to take the site forward will be made in due course.

"We do not have time-scales for detailed proposals from either developer at this stage."