Saxonvale Mayday Community Share Offer

A very well done to Chris Davies and the village for raising enough money to buy two shares @ £250 each in support of the Saxonvale development in Frome.

Latest: Mayday Saxonvale's post

A decision about the future of Saxonvale has been made behind closed doors.

Somerset Council has now published its report ahead of next Wednesday’s Executive meeting.

It confirms that a preferred bidder has already been selected and that the Council will enter into transaction discussions with them.

That bidder is not Mayday Saxonvale.

But Frome is not being told who it is.

We are not being told what they are proposing for Saxonvale. The assessment of the eight bids, the conclusions and the recommendation are all contained within confidential papers.

This is twelve acres at the heart of Frome and our town’s last major regeneration site. Yet there has been no public scrutiny of the proposal being taken forward for approval.

And there is an increasingly stark contrast with what is happening elsewhere in Somerset.

At Firepool in Taunton, Somerset Council is taking an active role in regeneration, seeking a development partner and explicitly looking to secure regeneration, financial and social value through the process.

In Frome, the Council has chosen to dispose of Saxonvale in an unconditional sale.

The Council’s report on Saxonvale states that “retaining control of the development would suppress land value”.

So why is Somerset Council actively shaping what regeneration delivers in Taunton, while selling Frome’s biggest regeneration opportunity behind closed doors?

Nearly one million pounds has been raised by over one thousand people to put forward a community-owned future for Saxonvale.

We now know Mayday has not been selected.

What Frome still doesn't know is who has been chosen, what they are proposing for our town, and why.

https://maydaysaxonvale.co.uk/

 

September 2026