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00:00Good day, people of Somerset. It's Daniel Mumby, your local democracy reporter, once
00:05again. I'm with you on the 1st of July here. It's a gloomy day in Froome, and you join
00:11me amongst all this chirping of crickets and various other insects in Packsaddle Fields
00:17on the northern edge of Froome, just off the eponymous Packsaddle Way. And over the next
00:23half hour or so, we're going to be walking from this green space right on the northern
00:28edge of Froome, all the way down to the residential streets, past the cheese and grain, and ending
00:33up in the town centre to grab a cup of coffee. And as ever with our Facebook Lives, if you
00:39have any questions or comments as we go along the route, please feel free to drop me a comment,
00:44and I will answer any questions or feedback that you have as they come in to the best
00:48of my ability. So we are here on the northern edge of Froome today because this green space
00:55that we're strolling through at the moment, on the public rights of way, could soon cease
01:00to exist. The Housing Association Live West is applying to build 74 homes and a children's
01:08home on this green space, one of the last protected green areas on the northern edge
01:13of Froome, just before you get out into the villages between here and Bath. And there
01:19is a very lively and passionate campaign going on, organised by the people for Pack
01:24Saddle, designed to protect this land in perpetuity. As you can see, it's largely unspoilt at the
01:33moment, you can probably hear all the chirping and chirping in the background, there's a
01:37fair few birds around this morning. This is a real wildlife haven, and also a very popular
01:43location with dog walkers. So what we're going to do on our Facebook Live today, is
01:49we're going to imagine what it would be like if we were someone who had moved into one
01:55of the new properties planned for this site, and we wanted to get to the town centre without
02:01using a car. We're going to be sticking to the current footpaths and cycle paths. We're
02:06at the top of Froome, so we're on one of the hillier parts, and we're going to walk down
02:11crossing the river as we go, and just show you how accessible or otherwise the site is.
02:19And hopefully, you'll get a good idea of the relationship between this site and the town
02:27centre. This site of course is not alone in being singled out for development, there is
02:33all manner of housing growth going on at the southern edge of Froome at the moment as we
02:38move through this kissing gate, and you can just see as we go through, the people for
02:45Pax Saddle have put various notices up asking people to write in to the Somerset Council
02:52website with their objections. You've got until the 4th of July, that's this coming
02:55Tuesday, to have your say on the matter, and we will put the planning reference number
03:01in the comments section at the end of our stream. So like I say, we've got the possible
03:05development up here, construction is currently underway on the Kiefford Meadows site off
03:09Sandys Hill Lane, with 198 homes being proposed for that neck of the woods. We also have the
03:17prospect of more than 200 others either side of the B309 to the mount as we cross over
03:25Pax Saddle Way and get our first view down into the town. And of course looming in the
03:30background behind all of this is the prospect of another 1,700 with the creation of the
03:36Settlewood Garden Community. That doesn't have planning permission yet, it's still very
03:41much at the consultation phase, but it could well be that in a matter of years Froome could
03:46extend all the way from its current boundary up to the A361 with barely a scrap of green
03:54space in the middle of it. And considering how much the people of Froome care about their
03:58environment and their green spaces, quite laudably of course, we think there'll be many
04:03people who would oppose that in their droves. But let me know in the comments section what
04:09your views on the matter are. As we take our first little turning off Pax Saddle Way, you
04:15can see the pavement's not in the best of conditions. It's fine for someone like me
04:19who's relatively able-bodied as we again look over this parapet down into the town centre.
04:25But if you were on a mobility scooter or had a wheelchair or used sticks, you'd have to
04:30have your wits about you. Somerset Council of course is now responsible for the maintenance
04:37of all footpaths and cycle paths and roads across the county, so if you have deteriorated
04:44surfaces like this in your area, I urge you to report it to their highways department.
04:48They seem to be relatively proactive in getting it fixed, so it's not a waste of your time
04:52by any stretch of the imagination. So whilst we are walking down the hill, let me give
04:59you some more information about what Live West is planning to put on the Pax Saddle
05:05Field site. A bit of background first of all, the green space in question was until very
05:12recently council-owned. It was acquired by the council in 1973, back when it was a good
05:18old Somerset County Council, and under the original proposals in their local plans and
05:23strategies for the county, they imagined that there would be a need for a new primary school
05:28there. That obviously hasn't materialised. As we come out onto Park Hill Drive, you can
05:34see a reasonably quiet residential area, and they announced back in March 2022, just before
05:43we went into the purdah period of the local elections, that they were going to be selling
05:47the land off, and they had entered into a legal agreement with Live West to build up
05:52to 90 homes on the site. Now that's obviously been downgraded slightly, and the inclusion
05:58of the children's home at the south-western corner of the site probably had a fair bit
06:03to do with that. Somerset Council is trying to construct a number of small children's
06:09homes across the county to allow young people with special needs to stay as close to their
06:15local communities and their families as possible. We'll just let this car go past as we slowly
06:21amble downhill. It's not too steep here, but there is a bit of a gradient, both in front
06:26of us and tapering down to the side, so again, if you're not able-bodied, you have to be
06:30a little careful, but it's not too severe at the moment. Now, Mendip District Council,
06:39to throw a bit of a spanner in the works, designated Park Saddlefields as an asset of
06:43community value back in January 2022, which means that before any developer can start
06:50constructing houses, or anything else on the site for that matter, the community has a
06:56limited amount of time, I believe it's either 6 or 12 months, to come together and put a
07:00proposal together to buy the land and use it outright. You may remember from a few years
07:06ago there was a brouhaha about the loss of Eastfield on the, funnily enough, the eastern
07:13bit of Froome, where there were plans for, I think, 62 homes near the cemetery, and that
07:22site was designated as a nature reserve, or is planned as a nature reserve, and the Housing
07:29Association in question withdrew their proposals after considerable public outcry. So, it is
07:35entirely possible, contrary to popular belief, to change a local authority's mind if you
07:41speak loudly enough, or in sufficient number. If you've just joined me, it's Daniel Mumby
07:47here, your local democracy reporter. We're in the Welsh Mill area of Froome now. We started
07:51our journey from Park Saddleway at the northern edge, this beautiful green space. We're now
07:56walking through the Welsh Mill part of the town, heading towards the town centre. We're
08:03talking about plans for 74 homes, and a new children's home, which could be going on that
08:09cherished green space. It's relatively quiet for a Saturday. I was driving through the
08:16town centre on my way in from Chard, about an hour's drive, and it was a fairly bustling
08:23day, so we should expect to run into a few more people as we get closer to the river,
08:28and we will endeavour to ensure that we don't disturb anyone over the course of their day,
08:35because the footpaths don't just belong to us. So we're now coming down to the bottom
08:41of Park Hill Way, I believe it's called, and we've just got a little junction to negotiate
08:46where these parked cars are, just up ahead, and from that we can pick up a footpath past
08:52the allotments, which will lead all the way to the Cheese and Grain, and then on over
08:58the river, past the Jensen Button Bridge, into the town centre. You can just glimpse
09:04the children's play area in front of us. Obviously we're not going to get too close to that for
09:10all manner of safeguarding reasons, but it's nice to see people out and about enjoying
09:14their local amenities. Just going to quickly cross over here. Like I say, it's a little
09:21bit of a difficult junction, with no pedestrian crossing, and again, people for Pax Saddle
09:29have been out in force with their placards, campaigning for people to write in to Somerset
09:34Council, demanding that the plans from Live West be refused. We don't have a breakdown
09:40off the top of our head of how many of the planned homes from Live West will be affordable
09:45or low cost. We imagine a significant proportion, because they are a housing association after
09:49all, but we will get that for you when we run a full article on this matter, which will
09:56be either Monday or Tuesday next week. So we're just passing the play area opposite
10:03Vine Gardens, again, making sure that we don't get run over in the process. Always try and
10:09be very careful with these kinds of things. And now we have a slight dilemma. I just need
10:16to consult the map on my other phone as to which of these two paths we take, because
10:20it seems that you can walk either side of the river. A spot for choice when it comes
10:27to footpaths and cycle paths in Froome. You may remember the walk that we did a couple
10:32of months ago, looking at Rodden Meadow and seeing just how picturesque that area is.
10:42That was on a walk to the Saxon Vale side, and we're going to take the path to the left
10:46as we quickly cross. Aside from a little bit of debris there, the weir is in excellent
10:55condition and the river looks pretty clear. Past the Welsh Mill sluice. Again, just keeping
11:06the play area out of shot so that we don't inconvenience any parents or children. If
11:12you've only just joined us, it's Daniel Munby here, your local democracy reporter. We have
11:17started our walk today from Pack Saddle Fields at the northern edge of Froome, where Live
11:23West has plans to build 74 homes and a children's home, plans that are currently being consulted
11:28upon and will probably get a final decision from Somerset Council later in the year. But
11:34we are now doing a little experiment to see how easy it is to get from that proposed housing
11:41development into the town centre without using a car. And so far we've negotiated some rather
11:48narrow footways between the housing estates. We've dealt with unmarked crossings over those
11:55residential roads with parked cars which affect visibility. Fortunately, things have now flattened
12:01and widened out as we move along the river Froome. We're heading towards the Chees and
12:08Grain and you can see things are starting to get a little bit busier. People milling
12:13around doing some shopping, taking advantage of the weather. There was a bit of rain in
12:20and around Shepton Mallet as I was coming into Froome today and I wonder how much of
12:26that will move over in this direction. I also wonder how much of it will end up at
12:32Lourdes because we could really use overhead conditions like this if we're going to get
12:37rid of Australia early. And that is your one and only mention of cricket that you will
12:41get on this stream. I'm just going to quickly power past these two young gentlemen so we
12:47don't get in their way. There's a fair amount of work going on on the bridge in front of
12:54us but hopefully that won't inconvenience us too much and clearly there is still safe
13:03passage all the way through. As I said, you really are spoiled for choice in Froome in
13:15terms of all the little highways and byways that are open to the public to explore. And
13:21as with all of the Facebook Lives that we've done this year, everywhere I'm walking you
13:26can walk because it's either a footpath or a cycle path. You just have to be careful
13:35that you don't get run over in the process. Not their fault, I do take up a lot of room.
13:42So we are now coming into the town centre. It has flattened out quite nicely as we go
13:47along the river. The Cheese and Grain is just on our left, a seminal venue for the town.
13:54I remember a few years ago when the Foo Fighters played a secret gig here ahead of their performance
14:00at Glastonbury. You can also see the Canoe Club with its base just behind us. The river
14:07is very still today and you can see, I wonder what those were as we were walking up. I assume
14:14that is something to do with the Canoe Club, the different barriers and gates where you
14:18have to row through them either downstream or upstream. I seem to remember coverage of
14:25that back in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which gives you some indication as to how
14:29old I am. So we are coming through the Cheese and Grain area through the different car parks.
14:35The Jensen Button Bridge, named after the Formula 1 ace, of course, who lives in the
14:39Froome area. We will be passing that shortly but we won't be crossing over it. That's a
14:46little trip for another time. Hopefully you are getting a sense by now of the various
14:52challenges facing less able-bodied people. Because we have to bear in mind, although
14:58it's a bit of a stereotype, that a lot of the people who will end up living in Housing
15:02Association properties will be those, not just on lower incomes, but those who may have
15:07issues with mobility which prevent them from living in more standard properties, so to
15:13speak. The ones that are sort of built to market specification. And accessibility needs
15:20to be an absolutely tantamount consideration. So if you are moving into one of those future
15:28properties and you have a wheelchair or mobility skills or other mobility issues, as we pass
15:35the Jensen Button Bridge and head round, these are issues that need to be considered. Very
15:48often planning decisions are often made with the interests of so-called normal able-bodied
15:55people in mind. They don't take account of all of these considerations. We are now heading
16:00towards the final section of our journey. We are going to be crossing over this bridge
16:05past the lively market. Wonderful smell of Thai food in the air. We go over the river
16:12towards the Westway Shopping Centre. This bridge feels relatively stable and secure.
16:19We get on the river being very still. Nothing to concern us too greatly. It is starting
16:27to get rather busy so I'm just being a little furtive in terms of not inadvertently streaming
16:34too many children or anything like that. So we will just nip down here through the pedestrianised
16:43area. This room of course is famed for its quirky buildings, its independent businesses.
16:53And it's nice to see so many people out and about on a Saturday lunchtime enjoying the
16:59clear air, getting their shopping and just exploring. I suppose we should also mention,
17:06as I spy Peter Richardson, the UK Independence Party candidate here, that there is a by-election
17:14going on in the Somerton and Froome constituency on July 20th, just under three weeks away,
17:21to replace David Warburton who has been the MP here since 2015. There are eight candidates
17:26standing to take his place as Somerton and Froome MP before the next general election
17:32when the boundaries change and I dare say that development in Froome, including the
17:38PAX Saddle site, is going to be a hot-button issue for a lot of people in the town. And
17:45we will post a link in the description after we finish streaming in a minute, breaking
17:51down the candidates and maybe you can put your questions to them. We're not aware of
17:55any particular hustings which are taking place but if we get dates for that we will let you
18:00know as soon as we have them. Well, we've reached journey's end here in Froome town
18:05centre near the Boyle's Cross and it's been relatively gentle in terms of terrain and
18:14it's not taken too long in terms of time to cover this far but hopefully this stream will
18:19have illuminated both the context of the PAX Saddle field's green space and how easy it
18:27is to get from there to access all that Froome has to offer. Like I say, we'll be leaving
18:34this video on our Facebook page permanently so if you've missed any particular section
18:39of this stream or have any questions you can go back and watch that. If I didn't get round
18:43to your comments today I apologise. I will respond to them retrospectively and there
18:47will be a full piece on the Somerset Live and other news sources early next week. In
18:52the meantime, I've been Daniel Mumby, your local democracy reporter. Thank you for joining
18:56me in Froome today. Make sure that you're registered to vote for the by-election on
19:00July 20th if you haven't already and I will see you all early next week.