Behind the boarding is Saxonvale, a former industrial estate in close to Frome town centre that’s been derelict for years and years. Planning applications, appeals, counter appeals, high court appeals … but no action.
Eventually two applications were granted planning permission and last month there was a meeting to decide which one the county council would go with - for maximum profit or for Frome. There was a highly charged public meeting and then the council went into a private meeting, where they chose the deeply unpopular option, because they wanted “spades in the ground” as quickly as possible. The successful company, Acorn, clearly understood the strength of feeling against them as, the following day, they pulled out. So the wait goes on and the boarding is gradually falling apart.