‘Devastating’: council rejects Frome residents’ bid for regeneration project

Locals raised 1m for Mayday Saxonvale scheme involving homes and park but Somerset officials agreed deal with London-based real estate company

A bold bid by residents of a progressive town in the English West Country who raised almost 1m to create what could have been the UK's largest community-led regeneration project is in tatters.

More than 1,000 residents of Frome in Somerset had clubbed together with the aim of building homes, workspaces, a riverside park and a lido on a brownfield area in their town centre.