Saxonvale land sale now NOT going ahead in Frome

The Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) have suddenly decided to withdraw the land they own in Frome from the imminent land sale, we found out today.  The land know as the Western Woodcraft site is currently occupied by the Saxonvale Centre, the training centre run by the Frome Education & Training Enterprise (FETE), which is on a very short lease from SWRDA.

This is great news as the short marketing phase was due to end on 8th July. Having alerted the Town Council to the news of the sale, at the first new Town Council meeting (picture gallery) the Chief Executive was instructed to enter into discussions with SWRDA with a view to finding out more. See the minutes here (item 42) - pdf download.

This site is critical to the development of the Saxonvale site, so an open-market sale was potentially very dangerous - to allow another new private landowner into the complex negotiations could have made the desired 'comprehensive' development even less likely.

The new proposal is to transfer the land to the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA). They are a public government agency & their website says "The HCA is playing a major role in identifying and unlocking surplus public sector sites to increase the supply of land available for commercial, housing and community-led development." More on their regeneration & land pages.

You can download the sales particulars here .

You can find more background on the FETE project here, and on the Saxonvale development site here.