Mayday Saxonvale, Frome

Mayday community event at the Silk Mill, next to the Saxonvale site (Credit: Garfield Austin)

Mayday Saxonvale is a not-for-profit social enterprise in Frome, supported by over 2,000 local residents.

Working with joint venture partner Kiss House and socially-responsible development company Stories, they’re transforming 12 acres of brownfield land into a mixed-use, vibrant town centre that puts local needs first. 

After a five-year effort to create a master plan and secure the sale from Somerset Council, this is set to be the UK’s largest ever community-led development.

Saying “yes” to community-led development

In the heart of Frome lies Saxonvale – a 12-acre brownfield site where some of the town's most prominent industries were once based. Over the last 20 years, as the site grew derelict, many different developments were proposed, but none came to fruition. In 2016 the last business closed its doors. 

The then-Mendip Council (now folded into Somerset Council) purchased the plots on the site in 2018, and created a land assembly to unite them. The council entered into a joint partnership with a private developer to bring 300 homes to Saxonvale — but these plans fell short on both affordable housing and commercial space, not meeting the requirements of the council’s own local plan policy. After a Judicial Review challenge, planning consent was lost.

In 2024, Somerset Council officially decided to sell the site, but the private developer quickly withdrew after local outcry.

Frome wanted the land to be developed by the community, for the community.

In fact, local residents began creating a plan of their own. Damon and Kate Moore, who own and run the Silk Mill (a community gallery, artist studio and events space attached to the site) wondered, “What if there was a different way? What if the people living here got to decide what to do with the site?” 

And so Mayday Saxonvale (Mayday) was born. 

Set up as a social enterprise by Damon and Kate, gradually more and more residents started coming together to support Mayday, and to explore what a community-led vision for the site could look like:

What would it mean to say ‘yes’ to development? What if we extended the town centre, and really made it ours – our Saxonvale?

With a new Director, Paul Oster, Mayday continued to grow, with the vision to bring forward an alternative master plan. One that was governed by the priorities and aspirations of local people – meeting their needs for workspaces, community spaces and housing, with sustainability at the forefront.

“The current development system is broken. We feel we have lost control of what happens to our towns, and our homes.

The thought of our history being demolished and our town’s future landscape changing was heartbreaking.

What we’ve created with Mayday is a sense of ownership, and we’ve put the control of our town’s future back in the hands of our community.”

— Holly Lawton, local resident and Mayday Saxonvale’s communications director

The plan

Featuring everything from intimate shopping streets to residential housing with shared community gardens, the plan includes:

• Affordable homes, above the 30% policy requirement

• Business incubation / start-up units

• Community-owned assets including a boutique hotel, workshop space, riverside lido, a spa using a natural underground spring, and rehearsal space for young bands in a repurposed tool-and-stores building

• A retro-fit first approach, regenerated heritage structures and buildings

• Historic springs and waterways uncovered, to incorporate the beauty of water into the streetscape

• Spaces for food growing, play and connection 

• Pedestrian priority and rooftop gardens

After securing enormous community support, equity funding from joint venture partner Kiss House and a partnership with Stories who will act as development manager, Mayday gained the council’s approval to purchase the site in January 2025. 

The community assets will be owned by Mayday, with any profits reinvested within Saxonvale or wider Frome community projects. While detailed planning gets underway, ‘meanwhile use’ will be a focus, to bring life to the site and open it up to the community wherever possible.

“Building trust with the council has been so important – and having technical and implementation partners who truly get it.

They understand that it’s the local community who bring the knowledge and vision. They recognise that value and viability aren’t just about profit, but social impact.

We hope our journey sparks a change in the way development happens across the UK, with communities taking the lead, every time.”

— Paul Oster, Director, Mayday Saxonvale

This is the first community-led development in the UK in a master planning context, and Mayday’s goal is to create a blueprint for other UK communities to revitalise their towns.

“Community-led development has been bubbling up for decades.

I’m firmly convinced it’s the answer to the UK’s housing crisis. It’s huge for Frome, and a moment of consequence for the whole country.”

— Damon Moore, Director, Mayday Saxonvale

With support from: