Mayday Saxonvale

14/10/2026

Somerset council website is down, you can access the meeting here:

Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/38020463644161?p=BpOkBL2LdDnZXzCMe2
Meeting ID: 380 204 636 441 61
Passcode: 6cX2MS6E

13/10/2026

Saxonvale Scrutiny: 10am, Wednesday, 14 October

Somerset Council's Scrutiny Committee will review the Executive's Saxonvale decision.

Following the meeting on 23 September, councillors called for the sale decision to be formally scrutinised: https://somersetleveller.co.uk/news/saxonvale-sale-decision-to-be-scrutinised-at-meeting-tomorrow/

This is an important opportunity for councillors to examine how the decision was reached and consider the concerns raised before the sale progresses further.

Decisions of this significance for our town deserve proper examination, transparency and accountability.

📅 Wednesday 14 October
🕙 10am
📄 Scrutiny Committee - Corporate and Strategic: https://somerset.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=8107

💻 Watch online:https://somerset.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s70065/Click%20here%20to%20join%20the%20meeting.pdf

Four Somerset councillors have 'called in' Somerset Council's decision to sell off the Saxonvale brownfield site in Frome town centre to Newcore Capital

23/09/2026

If you can't join us in person, you can watch online here:

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22/09/2026

Don’t forget, we’re also just a community, standing in front of a council, asking them to work with us.

That really is what this comes down to.

We are not a private development company asking Somerset Council for a favour. We know the journey to get here hasn’t been straightforward. There have been setbacks and delays.
But we are not the organisation we were last year.

We are a Community Benefit Society owned by over a thousand local members.

We are, quite literally, the community.

A community who cares deeply about the last major regeneration site in the heart of our town, Frome.

Together, we have raised nearly £1 million in community shares. We have £1.2 million of social investment committed and are in final stage discussions with other major national funds.

And this is just the beginning.

Last week, a community-led consortium was named preferred buyer for Brixton Village and Market Row. It proves this is possible. Communities can raise serious money, bring together serious expertise and take ownership of major assets.

This is an opportunity for Somerset Council to do something genuinely exemplary. Not just for Frome, or for Somerset, but for communities everywhere.

This decision is not just about who buys a piece of land.

It's a decision that will determine the economic future of our town for generations to come. The benefits of our community-led approach far outways just a capital receipt.

And this shouldn't be a radical thing to ask of a Liberal Democrats-led council.

A party with core values including community and democracy, who passionately talk about pushing political and economic power closer to local people. Wishing to empower communities to have greater control over the decisions that affect them.

Their own words say it best:

“We need to restore trust in politics and you don't do that by ignoring local communities.”

So we are asking Somerset Council to listen to theirs.

We are asking the Executive to choose community-led regeneration, choose community ownership, and choose a better way forward.

Choose the community of Frome.

Choose Mayday Saxonvale.

Our town. Our Saxonvale. Let’s own it.

22/09/2026

This is exactly why we cannot rely on the planning system alone to deliver the economic, social and environmental outcomes needed for major regeneration sites like Saxonvale.

Cllr David Fothergill said: "Lots of people have asked me why there’s no enforcement on planning matters, so at Full Council today I asked a series of questions only to find out that there are 1200 outstanding enforcements and a backlog of up to 18 months! Developers are running circles around the council."

Outcomes need to be built into how a development is delivered from the outset, not simply secured through planning and enforcement afterwards, especially when the council is already struggling.

Planning requirements are only as strong as the system behind them.

Lots of people have asked me why there’s no enforcement on planning matters, so at Full Council today I asked a series of questions only to find out that there are 1200 outstanding enforcements and a backlog of up to 18 months! Developers are running circles around the council and more resources needs to be put into just basic enforcement! Somerset County Conservatives Diogo Rodrigues - Opposition Leader on Somerset Council Cllr Dawn Denton: Frome North

21/09/2026

SAXONVALE DECISION DAY | LET’S STAND TOGETHER

This Wednesday, 23 September Somerset Council’s Executive will meet at Frome Town Hall to decide what happens next with Saxonvale.

NO DECISION HAD BEEN MADE YET: IT IS NOT OVER!

The final decision on the sale of Saxonvale has not been made.

The Executive does not have to accept the Officer’s recommendation, or even accept any offer. They still have the opportunity to make the right choice for Frome.

So we’re asking you, our community, to come and stand with us in a peaceful show of community strength before the meeting:

📍 Come to Frome Town Hall on Wednesday 23 September
⏰ ARRIVE AT 12:15PM
🔴⚪ Wear red and white if you can

⚠️ PLEASE NOTE: MEETING TIME CHANGE ⚠️

The meeting was originally due to start at 11am. We have been advised to arrive for a 1PM START for the Saxonvale item, due to a prior agenda item.

If you can, please stay for the Executive meeting. The Town Hall seats around 100 people and we have been told additional seating will be made available if the chamber is full.

We want to fill the room. We want to fill the building.
We need the Council to see and understand what this decision means to us all.

Together, we have raised nearly £1 million to put forward a community-owned future for Saxonvale. That is an extraordinary demonstration of how much our town cares about Frome’s future.

Wednesday is our chance to show that strength in person.

🙏Please keep this peaceful and respectful.

There is still a decision to be made, and we do not want to do anything that could jeopardise support amongst councillors before they make it.

💪 Let’s stand together. Let's own Saxonvale.

15/09/2026

‼️A decision about the future of Saxonvale has been made behind closed doors.

Somerset Council has now published its report ahead of next Wednesday’s Executive meeting.

It confirms that a preferred bidder has already been selected and that the Council will enter into transaction discussions with them.

That bidder is not Mayday Saxonvale.

But Frome is not being told who it is.

We are not being told what they are proposing for Saxonvale. The assessment of the eight bids, the conclusions and the recommendation are all contained within confidential papers.
This is twelve acres at the heart of Frome and our town’s last major regeneration site. Yet there has been no public scrutiny of the proposal being taken forward for approval.

And there is an increasingly stark contrast with what is happening elsewhere in Somerset.

At Firepool in Taunton, Somerset Council is taking an active role in regeneration, seeking a development partner and explicitly looking to secure regeneration, financial and social value through the process.

In Frome, the Council has chosen to dispose of Saxonvale in an unconditional sale.

The Council’s report on Saxonvale states that “retaining control of the development would suppress land value”.

So why is Somerset Council actively shaping what regeneration delivers in Taunton, while selling Frome’s biggest regeneration opportunity behind closed doors?

Nearly one million pounds has been raised by over one thousand people to put forward a community-owned future for Saxonvale.

We now know Mayday has not been selected.

What Frome still doesn't know is who has been chosen, what they are proposing for our town, and why.

15/09/2026

Cllr Dominic Ellison: “I’ve seen first-hand what can happen when communities have a meaningful stake in the places where they live and when investment is designed to create lasting social and economic value rather than simply a short-term return.

“Saxonvale sits right in the heart of the community I represent. This is about much more than who buys a piece of land. It is about what that land can deliver for Frome over the next 10, 20 or 50 years: homes, jobs, local businesses, public spaces and opportunities for people who live here.

“Somerset Council has shown through its approach to Firepool in Taunton that it understands the importance of remaining involved in a major regeneration project and protecting the outcomes it wants to achieve.

“There is still time to bring that same ambition to Saxonvale. I want to see the Executive looking at the long-term value this site can create for Frome and for Somerset, alongside the immediate financial consideration.”

Cllr Dominic Ellison, newly elected Somerset Councillor for Frome West Frome & East Somerset Green Party, which includes Saxonvale, has more than 20 years’ experience across social enterprise, co-operative development, regeneration and the voluntary and community sector.

At Firepool in Taunton, Somerset Council has agreed that proposals will be assessed on a balance of regeneration outcomes, social value, delivery certainty and best consideration. The site will be sold through a development agreement designed to allow the Council to maintain influence over key regeneration outcomes.

At Saxonvale, the Council’s agreed approach is an open-market disposal.

14/09/2026

£960k!!! Wow, less than £40k to reach ONE MILLION POUNDS!!!

Frome this is incredible, you are all incredible.

We are proving how powerful communitites are when they come together, how powerful our community is when we come together.

Our town. Our Saxonvale. Let's own it.

13/09/2026

Last week, Somerset Council agreed a very different approach to Firepool in Taunton from the one it has chosen for Saxonvale in Frome.

Speaking after the decision, Council Leader Bill Revans described Firepool as a “big strategic project” and stressed that bringing in a development partner would not mean the Council stepping away:

“That doesn’t mean that we are not going to be involved in that project.”

https://youtu.be/2kxAQgIwOow?si=r9A7PhfSAbV4what&t=34

At Firepool, Somerset has built regeneration outcomes, social value and delivery certainty into its approach, alongside financial consideration, with a development agreement allowing the Council to retain influence over what is ultimately delivered.

Somerset has chosen a different process for Saxonvale than it has for Firepool, but that doesn’t mean we can’t achieve the same ambition for regeneration, social value and long-term outcomes in our town.

The Saxonvale report is due this week, ahead of the Executive’s decision in Frome on 23 September.

The process may be different, but the ambition for what these important regeneration sites deliver for their communities should not be.

There is still time to get this right.

Council Leader Bill Revans and Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts sh...