‘Devastating’: council rejects Frome residents’ bid for regeneration project
Locals raised £1m for Mayday Saxonvale scheme involving homes and park but Somerset officials agreed deal with London-based real estate company A bold bid by residents of a progressive town in the English West Country who raised almost £1m to create what could have been the UK’s largest community-led regeneration project is in tatters. More than 1,000 residents of Frome in Somerset had clubbed…
A community-led regeneration project in the English West Country town of Frome has been scrapped after Somerset council agreed a deal with a London-based real estate investment company. Over 1,000 residents of the town had raised almost £1 million to construct homes, workspaces, a riverside park, and a lido on a brownfield area in the town centre.
However, Somerset council chose to sell the 5-hectare (12-acre) site to Newcore Capital, a company based in central London. The decision, which was revealed at a packed meeting in the town hall, was met with anger and disbelief from local residents. Many had invested their own money and had been working on the Mayday Saxonvale project for over five years.
The Liberal Democrat-led council acknowledged the sale was unconditional and expressed concerns that the prospective owners might not provide the mixed development with affordable homes that the community had envisioned. Frome, known for its independent and renegade spirit, was hoping for a development that would benefit local people.
The council criticized the transparency of the process and promised to work with the prospective owners. The proposed sale price for the land was around £3 million.
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