Calls for Frome council CEO to halt Packsaddle housing plans

Local campaigners said Packsaddle Fields were a "crucial recreational resource"

Campaigners in Frome are calling on the chief executive of Somerset Council to stop a housing development being built on community fields.

The local authority announced plans in March 2022 to sell Packsaddle Fields to a housing association.

LiveWest has applied to build 74 homes and a children's home on the site.

It said over a third of the development area would remain a green space, with additional planting and a new community orchard.

The People for Packsaddle (PfP) campaign group however, described the plans as "disappointing" because the fields were "absolutely vital" to local residents.

In a letter to Duncan Sharkey, PfP said: "Packsaddle Community Fields have been extensively used as a crucial recreational resource for the last 50 years.

"They have been, and are, absolutely vital to the wellbeing of local residents and to community cohesion."

Artist's impression of 74 homes on Packsaddle Way in Frome

PfP members said they wanted Mr Sharkey to personally intervene and urgently review the land sale in a bid to prevent the development.

The fields on the northern edge of Frome are a designated asset of community value.

Mr Sharkey has not commented on the letter, but a spokesperson for Somerset Council said its property team would reply to the group on his behalf.

In a statement, a spokesperson from LiveWest housing association said the 74 homes would be a mix of open market, rent and shared ownership homes.

"The masterplan for the site is being designed to enhance ecology and biodiversity through a variety of measures," they said, adding new hedgerows would be planted alongside grassland and a new woodland scrub.

"Proposals also include planting a high number of new trees across the site and to create a community orchard."