Frome community share offer passes first £600,000 target

Frome community raises first £600,000 towards buying and developing 12-acre town-centre site

Mayday Saxonvale’s community share offer has passed its first £600,000 target as residents work towards community ownership of a 12-acre brownfield site in Frome.

Plans for the Mayday Saxonvale community-led development in Frome Image: Mayday Saxonvale / Co-operative NewsOriginal source

Need something explained?Tap a highlighted word, phrase or concept, or select any part of the article and choose Explain this.

A community-led plan to transform a 12-acre in Frome has passed the first major target in its share offer, with more than £600,000 committed towards the project.

Mayday Saxonvale wants to bring the town-centre site into community ownership and develop a mix of affordable homes, workspaces, cultural venues, public space and facilities for local businesses.

The project is now working towards a £1.2 million stretch target. If completed, organisers say it would become the UK’s largest community-led development.

The is different from a conventional developer-led scheme. The community benefit society behind Mayday Saxonvale says land and assets would be held for long-term local benefit, with value reinvested in Frome rather than extracted from the project.

It is an ambitious experiment in what happens when residents are not simply consulted about a development, but become part of the ownership structure themselves.