Heartbreak in Frome as Saxonvale site is sold to London investors
A packed Frome Town Hall, a sea of red and white and another bitterly disappointing day for supporters of Mayday Saxonvale, as Somerset Council chose a new preferred bidder for one of the town’s most important development sites.
Frome Town Hall was awash with red and white as supporters of Mayday Saxonvale turned out in force for a meeting which would help decide the future of one of the town’s most important sites.
The council chamber was packed, with an overflow room opened for those unable to get inside. Many had dressed in Mayday’s colours, a striking show of support for the community-led vision for the 12-acre brownfield site in the heart of Frome.
But by the end of the meeting, the mood had changed.
Somerset Council’s Executive approved Newcore Capital as the preferred bidder for Saxonvale following an open-market process which attracted eight bids.
For the Mayday supporters who have spent years campaigning, consulting, fundraising and developing an alternative vision for the site, it was another deeply disappointing turn in a saga which has already lasted years.
“It just feels the same again, really,” one Mayday Saxonvale investor told Fabulous Frome afterwards.
“I feel like we’ve been here a number of times before. It’s deeply disappointing that Somerset Council, and previously Mendip District Council, don’t seem to listen to the people here who feel passionately that this is so important.”
She told us Mayday had worked incredibly hard to develop its proposals through community consultation and had built support from local organisations, businesses, councillors and residents.
“We’ve worked terribly hard and been very, very professional in trying to listen to the community, consult in a meaningful way, and I feel that’s all been taken away from us.”
Before councillors considered the recommendation, a succession of people from Frome addressed the meeting, including former mayor Anita Collier, Frome Town Council leader Fiona Barrows, local mum Susie Temple, Mayday Saxonvale director Paul Ostler, Frome local Alan Benson, developer Jon Rolls and Mayday Saxonvale chair Brigid Clarke.
Their contributions raised questions about the future of the town centre, affordable housing, employment space, transparency and the extent to which Frome would be able to influence what eventually replaces the derelict buildings.
One of the biggest concerns was the decision to sell Saxonvale on an unconditional basis.
Somerset Council says bids were assessed on criteria including the financial offer, proof of funds, transaction timescales, experience and track record. It has stressed that the decision was not simply about accepting the highest offer.
But once an unconditional sale is completed, the council will no longer control the land. Its principal influence over what is eventually built will come through the planning process.
That troubled several of those inside the Town Hall.
A former Frome councillor told Fabulous Frome afterwards that they were disappointed the council felt obliged to dispose of the site “without any say whatsoever about what is intended from any of the bidders”.
Of particular concern was the amount of employment space a future development might provide.
“We need a higher proportion of commercial space because there’s a lot of commuting out of this town, and we’ve already lost industrial sites to almost 100 per cent housing,” they said.
“This is the last site in the town centre where we can have commercial premises where we need them.”
The former councillor said Mayday had offered Frome a glimpse of a different model of development, one which was not driven by the conventional developer profit model.
Instead, they feared, “it always seems to come down to money”.
Questions inside the chamber
Those concerns were reflected in some of the discussion among Somerset councillors.
Councillor Shane Collins questioned whether an unconditional sale could deliver the wider regeneration ambitions for Saxonvale, including affordable housing and employment space.
While councillor Fiona Barrows highlighted Frome’s need for employment land and questioned whether relying solely on the planning system could result in a development dominated by housing.
There were questions about transparency too.
Councillor Martin Jevon called for bidders to receive a full debrief after the decision, within the constraints of commercial confidentiality.
Alan Benson also raised his unsuccessful Freedom of Information request when addressing councillors, adding to wider concerns expressed at the meeting about how much information had been available publicly during the process.
Another major issue was the £3.6 million Homes England grant associated with Saxonvale.
Councillors were told Homes England would not allow the grant to be secured through an indemnity and that Somerset Council could ultimately have to repay the money from its capital resources.
Council officers said, however, that refusing to proceed with the disposal would not necessarily protect that money, with Homes England expected to seek recovery of the grant regardless.
The authority repeatedly stressed its statutory duty to obtain the best consideration reasonably obtainable for the land and said the assessment involved financial robustness, certainty of funding and risk rather than simply the headline price offered.
The meeting eventually moved into confidential session, with the press and public excluded while commercially sensitive information concerning the bids was discussed.
For some of the Mayday supporters waiting outside, however, there was already a sense that the outcome was inevitable.
‘A foregone conclusion’
Former Frome mayor Anita Collier said the speakers had provided councillors with ample reason to pause.
“There have been some fantastic speakers today, and I think the way they’ve spoken has given plenty of reason for them to defer this decision,” she said.
Mayday Saxonvale chair Brigid Clarke was more forthright.
“I just feel exasperated because there has been no chance to come back, no discussion, no open discussion,” she told Fabulous Frome.
Asked whether she believed the decision was a foregone conclusion, she replied: “Yes. I do, totally. I do think, to be honest, they had done that before they came to this meeting.”
She also questioned the purpose of holding the meeting in Frome if the decision had effectively already been reached, describing the process as a “facade”.
Clarke’s central objection was not simply about who had won the bidding process. It was about what an unconditional sale meant for the future of the site.
“What we’re interested in is what it means for Frome and what it means for the Saxonvale site,” she said.
“What they’ve done by making it a pure land sale, unconditional, is eliminate any question of what happens or any responsibility.”
Somerset Council’s position is that its assessment was not based solely on price. It says it considered the financial robustness of the bids, certainty of funding and risk, alongside the other criteria.
Nearly £1 million raised
For Mayday supporters, the outcome is particularly difficult after the scale of the community effort behind the bid.
Mayday raised more than £959,000 through its community share offer towards buying Saxonvale, alongside £1.2 million secured from the government-backed Resonance Community Developers Fund.
It was an extraordinary demonstration of local support for the project.
The latest defeat follows years of twists and turns over the site.
Somerset Council had previously agreed in January 2025 to sell Saxonvale to Mayday Saxonvale Development Ltd, but the transaction did not complete. The council subsequently withdrew exclusivity and put the site back onto the open market.
Councillor Mike Rigby, Somerset Council’s portfolio holder for economic development, planning and assets, said the council recognised the strength of feeling in Frome and respected the years of work local people had put into trying to regenerate Saxonvale.
He said the authority shared that ambition but previous approaches, including a community-led proposal, had not progressed into a deliverable solution.
“In coming to today’s decision we have had to focus on financial robustness of the bids, certainty of funding, risk and our statutory duty to demonstrate best value,” he said.
Newcore describes itself as a specialist investor in social infrastructure real estate.
The company has committed to holding community engagement events to listen to local stakeholders and explore priorities for Saxonvale once its acquisition is complete. Any subsequent development proposal will have to go through the planning process.
But if the turnout at Frome Town Hall demonstrated anything, it was that the town remains deeply invested in what happens next.
And Mayday may not be finished yet.
Clarke said many community shareholders wanted to leave their money invested to help the group continue to fight for its vision.
“We’ve got a huge amount of support,” she said.
Mayday will now take advice on what options remain, including whether the decision could be considered through the council’s scrutiny process.
After years of plans, appeals, fundraising, meetings and setbacks, Clarke was not ready to call time on the campaign.
“I just hope that we can keep fighting on,” she said.
Then came a rather more human assessment of what needed to happen next.
“But we all need to have a bit of a rest first!”
For a campaign which has repeatedly appeared to reach the end of the road only to find another route forward, it felt like an appropriate note on which to leave Frome Town Hall.
Written by Daisy Steel
Journalist, columnist and podcaster
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