The untelevised Frome Town Council meeting of 22nd June

The first 'proper' (ie. not just focussed on the handover of the reins) Frome Town Council meeting with the new bunch of Councillors happened last night (22nd June) in Rook Lane Chapel. Sadly this was not filmed by Frome TV as planned as there is some issue about Councillors not giving permission to be videoed. Trying to helpfully supply a picture of the meeting in action, of the new-look user-friendly we-are-not-sure-who-you-are-yet Councillors I was informed that photos too are not allowed. It is tempting to upload one with all the faces blanked out but my Photoshop skills are limited so I'll make do with the previous photos taken from the last meeting which you can find here. If anyone tells me that these too are disallowed then this link may be blank!

Despite taking copious notes this report is not intended to be full minutes, these will be available on the Town Council website soon. The beauty of online reporting (which anyone can do on here, feel free) is that it enables deeper links to additional information on the internet or access  to documents, and facilitates conversation and transparency, something that the new Independents for Frome say they are very keen on. So here is the agenda, and when the minutes are available they will be linked here.

Partly as a result of the lack of sub-committees, which were abolished at the inaugural meeting of the TC, and partly as there is just so much going on in Frome, the agenda was ludicrously large, a point picked up by Mel Usher during the meeting, saying that he wouldn't necessarily have enjoyed sitting through it if he didn't have to…. If you've not experienced a typical Town Council meeting then don't worry, you will not have to endure one of that length or format again as they are due to change, a promise of the new 'administration' (Council).

This first report covers the Public Forum part of the meeting, which was used by several groups & individuals to have their say. This kicked off with Mendip DC Councillor Tom Killen & officer Sara Skirton explaining that the East Mendip Community Partnership (which met in Frome to discuss District Council matters) has been abolished and that Frome will be the first place to use a new format of a 'Town Forum' for people to raise local issues in a less formal meeting format, a one-stop-shop to contact all Councils. It was a little unclear whether the County Council would be involved and this was forcefully demanded by some Councillors if the idea is to work. It was agreed that the Town Council were happy to initiate this, albeit with few resources available from MDC.

Next off were three reps from the schools - Frome Community College, Oakfield School & Selwood School who came to explain the bidding process for Academy Status, pros & cons, and how they were determined that they would focus entirely on what is right for the kids, despite a reduced budget this year. Selwood has not yet put in their bid (which is not binding at this stage) but the other two have, Selwood to decide in July. They also meet with all 17 Frome school reps on 23rd June. It looks as though they will all 'ride the wave and take the opportunities'. On the whole they feel that some of the freedoms of Academy Status will allow budgets to be used more effectively and curricula more flexible. Discussions are underway about how to handle shared uses at the Merlin Theatre & Leisure Centre on the campus. Selwood has the Academy Debate on their website or you can download it here.

John Payne took the soap box to say how he felt that local governance  was sadly lacking in Frome and that there were some key strategic projects & ideas that just weren't being tackled or reported on, for example the Broadway allotments and adjacent Police-owned land and buildings. He feared yet more houses, but had not had much response from the Town Council despite years of trying to engage on such matters. Despite many hours being put into the Vision for Frome (V4F) it appeared to be dormant. He deplored the 20% reduction in Library hours which reduced access to vital services provided by both the District and Town Councils at their information points, including housing, benefits & critical concerns. The queues for these services when the Library is open are often very long, impacting on tourism & economic wellbeing. He felt that no-one was trying to resolve this. There was much sympathy from Councillors and the Chief Exec pointed out that a judicial review of the Library decision was imminent. Frome Community Education are planning to hire the Libray when otherwise closed so that these vital services should have staff coverage during those periods. Cllr Goldfinger confirmed that the V4F would be used in the proposed 'Frome Town Design Guide' and Cllr Usher agreed that the three tiers of local government don't talk together and there was not enough focus on 'delivery' of projects. Charles Wood, chair of V4F, said that the Vision will only move on with FTC support, and that the District Councils 'Local Development Framework' was very influenced by the V4F.

An angry man then stood & demanded to know why the Town Council had given him a 300% Council Tax increase without a mandate & thrust his bill into the hands of the Mayor. A quizzical look rippled around the room.

The Frome Collegians President stood and explained how the Village Green application for the Showfield would adversely impact on the footballers who enjoyed wide support from many members of the community. They would not be able to build required facilities such as toilets and the Agricultural Society were very concerned as the value of the land would be severely reduced. They pointed out that the public only had permissive rights on the land. Consultation on the proposal in still open. Jacqueline Peverley explained that the proposal was intended to protect a key open space in the town.

The Civic Society requested that the Town Council ask the District Council to extend the consultation period about the Singers artefacts (report here) and to add the artefacts and other unique metalwork (Valentine Lamp, locally-made tree guards) to the 'watch list' along with the Cockey Lamps.

….. so that was the first part of the meeting. Observations made were that the venue was not great for speaking as those at the back couldn't hear. There was a large audience, some of them furiously tweeting (even one of the Councillors at the top table!), which dwindled as the long evening wore on. Frome People is keeping a twitter list of Town Councillors and if you'd like to know who tweets in Frome (& why) read this report. New media, streaming video, accessibility to info and more were discussed later, shame I can't show you pics of the discussions...

… more to follow.