FOUR Frome councillors have been successful in their bid to have the decision to sell the Saxonvale site to a London-based developer ‘called in’.

The ‘call in’ allows for a review of the decision made on September 23 by Somerset Council Executive to sell the site to Newcore Strategic Situations VI Ltd as their preferred bidder.

The meeting is set to take place in public on Wednesday, October 14 at 11am.

The call-in request was submitted by Cllrs Dominic Ellison and Martin Dimery (Frome West), Shane Collins (Frome East) and Adam Boyden (Frome North), and supported Cllr Lesley Mansell, member of the Scrutiny Committee Corporate & Strategic.

The councillors are querying the possible requirement to replay a £3.6 million Homes England grant “and whether the potential Homes England repayment liability affected the assessment of the net financial outcome to the Council”.

Their call-in letter also queries the connection between the preferred bidder, and the council’s professional adviser CBRE Investment Management.

The letter states that Mr Andrew Baum holds a senior non-executive role with Newcore Capital and sits on its investment committee, while also sitting on an investment committee within CBRE Investment Management.

They say: “The existence of that connection does not in itself establish any impropriety, and we do not wish to suggest otherwise.

“However, given CBRE's role as the Council's professional adviser in the marketing and evaluation process, we think it is reasonable for the Council to provide assurance about the conflict-management arrangements that operated.”

In their letter, the councillors are asking the Scrutiny committee to determine whether Executive had “all material information before it and was appropriately advised when reaching its decision.”

The Scrutiny committee cannot change the decision but it can refer it back to the Executive to reconsider with further information not included in the confidential report and recommendation from CBRE.

The letter concludes: “Saxonvale is an exceptionally important site for Frome, but we think it is important that any call-in is about the robustness of the Council's decision-making rather than councillors simply expressing a preference for one development proposal over another.”

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The meeting begins on Wednesday, October 14 at 11am in Luttrell Room at County Hall in Taunton and is also available to view online.