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Market could make return to town centre

Mendip District Council plan to improve markets.

The news comes as it was revealed that the district council has applied to close the roads in the town centre on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Somerset Standard reported in October last year that the market could move back to Market Place after councillor Adrian Dobinson (Lib Dem, Berkley Down) announced the proposal at a full town council meeting.

At the time the district council played down the revelation, with Donna Nolan, corporate manager for governance, assets and public spaces, saying that if there was such a decision to be made all interested parties would be consulted first.

But when approached this week, a spokeswoman for Mendip said the authority was investigating the idea of developing a market two days a week in the town centre, with the road through Frome closed, but she would not be drawn on the exact timescale.

It is believed that buses would continue to operate in the town centre during the market with a barricade system in place manned by stewards.

She said: "As discussed previously, we have looked at all options available to develop and grow our markets to help support the town centres and the traders and I can confirm that we are investigating the option of establishing a market in the centre of Frome, which could potentially run two days a week.

"However, this is in the very early stages, which is why little detail is available at present. The district council has applied for temporary road closures in preparation for taking this forward.

"The road closures will come into effect from Easter, however this does not signal the start of the relocated market, no date for the first market has been set.

"Our initial thinking is that we look to run the Frome market in the centre of town on a Saturday and depending on the success of this, we would be interested in developing this further and seeing the market take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

"A report outlining the details of this trial period is being prepared and will be taken by officers to Mendip District Council's cabinet meeting at the end of January.

"If approved further details about the trial of the developed market in Frome will be made available."

For many years the Frome Market has been held in the Market Yard car park but several years ago, because of its dwindling size, it was moved to a smaller space in the car park and many residents have complained that it has been in decline ever since.