Saxonvale, Frome - The Lib Dems' Mess at Mendip Gets Even Messier - Brownfield Last, Frome's Green Fields First

 

Dodgy Council, Dodgy Councillors

One of our Official emblems

 

"Two big developments at the same site? Ridiculous...This mess is going to drag on and on, way past when Mendip District Council will cease to exist in 2023. It will be a mess inherited by the New Somerset Council, via the courts. The legal bill will cost the taxpayer a lot of money." Andrew Pope, Leader of Somerset Independents

Somerset Independents puts residents first. We have stood up for local residents and businesses in the face of Mendip District Council's mess at Saxonvale, Frome.

Our Leader Andrew Pope spoke at the Planning Board against the Acorn proposal that was so reviled. We listened to residents and acted for them.

But as reported by us, the dodgy Planning Board approved the Acorn proposal. Mendip District Council also owns the land. This is a clear conflict of interest, which Mendip claims to have managed. 

Sadly, Mendip cannot be believed, because they have not managed conflicts of interest elsewhere, including councillors voting through a planning application on land owned by a fellow councillor - and claiming that they didn't know him!

This was the "Sandys Hill Lane" development on the outskirts of Frome, near the McDonald's and Sainsbury's complex. Land involved in that application is owned by Councillor Philip Ham. 

 

Councillor Philip Ham
(Photo: Mendip District Council)

Our investigation was reported in Private Eye and remains one of the most popular articles on this website.

Mendip has dodgy councillors and is a dodgy council. We've proved it time and time again. We tried to get them to reform their ways. Our campaigns have succeeded, including at Easthill, Frome and in reform of the Planning Board. But Mendip had already made a mess at Saxonvale, a brownfield site, dithering and delaying while approving development on the green fields around Frome.

Brownfield land has come last at Saxonvale, but greenfield development in Frome has preceded it, including at Sandys Hill Lane. It's tragic. It's wrong.

So when we heard that an alternative proposal was being proposed for Saxonvale, we were curious about it.

We asked Mayday Saxonvale on more than one occasion how they proposed to manage having two planning applications being approved for the same site. They did not answer. But that situation has now occurred. It happened at the Mendip Planning Board last week.

And to make matters worse, this week, the Asset Management Group approved the signing of the Section 106 Agreement for the Acorn development, further sealing the fate of the Saxonvale site, which remember, Mendip owns.

At the Asset Management Group (AMG) meeting this week, the legal adviser Lesley Dolan stated, when asked by "opposition" (hardly!) Councillor Tom Killen (Conservative) that there was no reason why they could not agree to allow the S106 agreement to be signed.  

 

No councillor voted at that meeting against signing the Agreement between Mendip and Acorn. The head financial officer, Richard Bates, also said there was no alternative but to do so.

 

The AMG resolved to sign the S106 with Acorn, but councillors claim that everything is hunky dory. IT ISN'T. Actions speak louder than words. It took the Lib Dems at Mendip years to get to this point and Mendip dithered and delayed.

Tory Councillor Tom Killen said at the AMG meeting that he was "proud" that the Council had bought the land when he was Deputy Leader of Mendip. That's some claim, given that it has generated zero revenue since Mendip bought it. We discovered this during our investigations of the Mendip accounts and our objections to their governance in managing public money.

 

 

What is a Section 106 (S106) Agreement?

It is an agreement between the planning authority (Mendip District Council in this case) and the applicant / developer (in this case Acorn). It places obligations on the developer. 

It is usually the last part of planning permission before the final go-ahead is given as permission. So when the Planning Board gave permission to the Acorn proposal a long time ago now (Somerset Independents opposed it and our Leader Andrew Pope spoke against at the Planning Board), it was subject to this S106 agreement being agreed. 

So technically there is an opportunity to stop the development, but Mendip District Council have shown no sign of stopping it.

What Happens Now?

At the AMG, the legal adviser mentioned that there was legal action - a Judicial Review relating to the demolition at the Saxonvale site. 

Also at the AMG, the THREAT (not realised yet) was made via Councillor John Clark that if they agreed to sign the S106 there would be a Judicial Review. In reality, it was not clear what Cllr Clark was threatening as he did not seem to understand what he was threatening (such is the way with Green councillors). We believe this Judicial Review is threatened by Mayday Saxonvale.

So if that were to occur, there would be at least two pieces of legal action, putting even more delays in the way of actual development going ahead. Saxonvale remains a derelict site.

Andrew Pope, Leader of Somerset Independents, says:

 

Andrew Pope

 

"How can you have two developments at the same site? Mendip District Council that own the land on behalf of Somerset residents, are playing everyone for fools!

 

This mess is going to drag on and on, way past when Mendip District Council will cease to exist in 2023. 

 

It will be a mess inherited by the New Somerset Council - the unitary authority that nobody wanted other than the Tories and the Lib Dems who have benefited from it - via the courts. 

 

The legal bill will cost the taxpayer a lot of money and it will be Somerset residents who will pay. It's just wrong and a terrible mess created by the Lib Dems."

 

We asked Mayday Saxonvale to respond to the situation and have received an answer from them, which we have published. Residents can make up their own minds as to whether they have answered our questions or not.

Who Are Somerset Independents?

We are a campaign group formed by residents to stand up for residents across the County of Somerset - North, South, East and West.

Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.

We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.