FAQs
Currently, the junction has four entrances and exits. It is extremely busy at certain times of the day and on Portway and Christchurch Street East cars are parked on the side of the road making it very narrow to pass.
The Acorn scheme will keep the two way access through vicarage street and add traffic lights. The four way lights on Garsdale and pedestrian crossings will cause cars and large vehicles to sit at all four junctions many times throughout the day. This congestion will cause air and noise pollution levels to increase to unacceptable levels for residents, businesses, and the school. Let’s also remember the Acorn scheme is building 300 high density apartments, adding another 4-500 cars in the mix.
The Mayday plan would make Vicarage Street one way, would relocate the school from the main road reducing congestion, and less residential. Our plan has pedestrian and cycle priority, encouraging more people to walk and cycle rather than driving into town.
Mayday Saxonvale is a not-for-profit social enterprise incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, with the sole objective of developing the Saxonvale site for the social, community, and economic benefit of Frome.
Mayday Saxonvale and Stories would form a joint venture company for the development of the Saxonvale site, fully aligned on maximising social value.
Stories are a socially responsible property development company that delivers residential-led mixed use projects that enable maximum social value. They are a pending Benefit Corporation (B-Corp) and are regulated by RICS.
Mayday provides the local knowledge and community understanding and are the long term custodians of the community assets and public realm of the development. Stories provide the expertise required to deliver a scheme of this scale and would be engaged by the joint venture as the master developer of the site, alongside arranging the necessary financing.
Whilst external capital will be used where necessary, the overriding objective of the joint venture will be to maximise social value or ‘social profit’. This approach fundamentally alters the viability equation, enabling the Mayday plan to deliver more commercial space, higher levels of affordable housing, and a variety of community assets.
This would be the first community led development at a masterplan scale in the UK.
For more information read our Model for Development.
There are many local businesses that can’t find suitable premises in the town center. It’s stopping expansion or forcing them to leave and take jobs with them.
The Westway units are either too large or too expensive for many local businesses.
Read our Economic Manifesto for more information.
Mayday Saxonvale has taken Passivhaus Principles into account and will develop buildings to the Future Homes Standard. This will mean that the buildings will have an exceptionally low heat demand, and the energy requirement will be met with renewable technology generated as far as can be achieved on site. It is, therefore, predicted the development will generate more energy than needed and will act as a renewable energy grid within Saxonvale.
Our low energy building model will be set out to ensure that an appropriately robust energy qualification process is tied into the scheme that ensures it meets the environmental standards set out and therefore expected. At a minimum, these standards are expected to reduce Carbon Emissions (Co2) of the buildings by at least 70% compared to the UK average of each building type.
As outlined in our Design and Access Statement, our masterplan is focussed on sustainability with the overarching objectives being economic, social, and environmental. Our plan incorporates many approaches to achieve this, for example retrofitting original buildings and structures (reducing embodied carbon), providing jobs locally to reduce people commuting, promoting walking and cycling within the town centre, and parking is hidden from view.
Saxonvale Myths Busted
FALSE!
– Saxonvale has been an active employment site until recent times. The last factory to close in Saxonvale was in 2016.
– It could not be developed because of multiple owners including Mendip District Council.
– This was resolved when the two main parcels of land were purchased secretly by Mendip in 2018 without any valuation being performed
FALSE!
– Mendip’s consultation has been dependent on negative messaging about Saxonvale.
– Saxonvale offers Frome a great opportunity rather than a problem.
– By not listening to the town and breaching their own local planning policies, the District Council has held back the redevelopment.
FALSE!
– Saxonvale is a mixed-use site that needs to balance housing and employment.
– There are 100s of residential houses being built out in Frome and hundreds more in the pipeline.
– Building more & more houses without any civic infrastructure or business premises for people to work is not sustainable.
– The effect of the rising roll from Acorn’s high density housing on St John’s and with their premises in urgent need of repair means the school cannot continue on its present site.
– The health & safety of children on the ‘school run’ from a lowering of air quality and the risk from traffic using the Garsdale Junction are factors of concern that Acorn has never addressed.
FALSE!
– District Councillors have recently gone on record confirming Mayday’s claims regarding the Acorn plan and legality of their appointment.
– The way Acorn’s plan was imposed upon Frome is undemocratic.
– Despite pressure from Councillors, there is still no financial transparency – we don’t know what confidential terms have been agreed.
FALSE!
– Without a thriving local economy which Acorn’s plan threatens, Mendip will be worse off not better off.
– The Acorn plan has cost the District Council far more than they will ever get back.
– Mendip cannot be trusted with local rate-payers money.