Frome is a town under pressure from developers. Its current population of around 27,000 is forecast to grow by 25% by 2028. With one of the first Neighbourhood Plans in the country to be formally designated, the people of Frome are keen to see community-led housing as a major component of this growth:
“There is a local view that recently constructed housing estates which have sprung up on the edge of the Town have contributed little of value and further development of this nature should be more rigorously controlled.
Notably there is strong support for self-build and community-led development and a wish to see more sites made accessible for self-build and co-housing. Interest in self-build and custom-build housing has grown enormously in recent years…and is now actively supported by Government. Such housing is likely to be more sustainable, affordable and community focused than conventional development, however competing for sites and finding the resources to undertake the development can be a difficult task”.
The Neighbourhood Plan therefore includes specific policies that support community-led housing schemes on suitable sites, particularly rural exception sites. It also includes a Supplemental Report setting out the case for community-led housing development.
The Frome Neighbourhood Plan can be found here.
Published in March 2018
