Frome Town Council and Frome Area Community Land Trust (FACLT) are hosting a meeting on Tuesday 18th July at the Town Hall to discuss the current housing issues in Frome and to raise awareness across the board.
Taking place from 7pm – 8:30pm, the session will start with a presentation from FACLT, who will give an overview of the current state of housing in Frome. It will include facts and figures including real-life examples and stories of housing difficulties that are faced in the town.
A panel discussion facilitated by Sophie Docker will follow. Confirmed panellists so far include Ali Barclay (a founder of Fair Housing for Frome and member of FACLT board), Steve Watson (Director of Middlemarch Community Led Housing CIC), Cllr Polly Lamb (previously ran a lettings company in Frome and is a town councillor), Stephen Fowler (who has extensive experience in landlord and tenant law, led a property management business and provides in house consultancy for agents, housing charities, local authorities and associations).
Roger Saunders, Chair of FACLT, said: “Despite the efforts of our town council, FACLT, and several other community organisations, the housing situation in our town has become increasingly dire. A large number of our fellow citizens are inadequately or insecurely housed, and many more are having to pay a significant portion of their incomes on soaring rents or mortgages. The situation is difficult to address at a local level, but we can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope it will go away. We hope this meeting will help us pull together as a community, to face up to the scale and nature of the housing crisis, and to start mapping out ways of tackling it.”
Cllr Steve Tanner, Chair of Frome Town Council Planning Committee added: “The subject of developments within and around the town has been something discussed for many years and will continue to be so. There are numbers of issues but it’s important that the Council hear from as many people as possible who are affected by housing. This meeting gives us the chance to examine all angles. If you have a housing story you’d like to share in the meeting, it’s not too late to get in touch either fill out the form online or email FACLT.”
You can share your story by filling out the form here.
Alternatively, you can email FACLT or pop your story into one of the boxes dotted around the town, including Frome Town Hall.
All are welcome to join the meeting on Tuesday 18th at the Town Hall, if you would like to attend online, please register here.
