Dozens of new homes will be built at the southern edge of Frome following a U-turn by district councillors, writes Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Mumby.

Wainhomes has been trying to secure permission to build 70 houses between Little Keyford Lane and the B3092 The Mount, in the Little Keyford area of Frome.

Mendip District Council’s planning board voted in June to refuse the plans for a second time, with councillors telling the developer they would accept “no less than the best” for the site. But the board voted in Shepton Mallet on Wednesday (July 20) to reverse this decision after the developer and the local ward member put forward numerous alterations to the plans.

The site is one of three within the Little Keyford area which are allocated for future housing growth within the council’s Local Plan Part II. Planning board members voted in February to approve plans for 249 homes across two sites either side of the B3092 to the south of the Wainhomes land.

Since June, Wainhomes has amended the plans to reflect the council’s concerns, retaining more of the existing hedgerows on Little Keyford Lane, protecting more of the existing trees and moving a planned pedestrian access to the Marston Trading Estate further to the north.

The developer has also promised the new homes will be heated through “ambient heating” – either air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps” – rather than gas boilers.

Cllr Helen Kay, whose Frome Keyford ward includes the site, put forward a string of requests for extra conditions which the developer would have to meet if approval was granted. She said: “I do feel the developers have come a long way, but I do still have some personal reservations. Today Somerset County Council declared an ecological emergency, and really we should be seeing this translated into planning policy, so as many of these hedgerows as possibly can be retained.”

Her proposed conditions included a financial contribution towards a new pedestrian crossing on the B3092, adding to the sums committed by David Wilson Homes from the two sites to the south.

After around an hour’s debate, the plans – with Ms Kay’s additional conditions – were approved by a substantial margin.

Ms Kay abstained from the vote, stating that it would have been “churlish” to vote against the plans in light of the strides made by the developer.