A biodiverse landscape for living, learning, working and thriving.
A biodiverse landscape for living, learning, working and thriving.
Selwood Garden Community, Frome
Selwood Garden Community was approved for outline planning. It is a sustainable, infrastructure‑first proposal for Frome, bringing forward up to 1,700 homes, 6.9 hectares of flexible employment space, two care homes, a primary school and a local centre. With more than a third of the site dedicated to green infrastructure—including flood‑resilient landscapes and Biodiversity Net Gain measures—the masterplan aligns housing delivery with transport accessibility, ecological capacity and long‑term infrastructure provision. Set in the most sustainable location in Mendip, and designed to reduce reliance on private cars, SGC provides a forward‑looking model for market towns under pressure to deliver new homes without compromising environmental integrity or community wellbeing.
Location
Frome, Somerset
Type
Housing-Led Masterplanning
Size
1700 Homes and Associated Infrastructure
Planning Application Type
Outline
Disciplines
Masterplanning, Landscape Architecture and LVIA
NVB’s vision places nature and healthy living at the heart of the new neighbourhoods. Privately owned land will become meadows, orchards, parks and allotments, forming an interconnected green network. A comprehensive system of footpaths and cycleways encourages active travel and sociable, walkable streets. Residential areas follow ‘playing out’ principles, enabling safe doorstep play through reduced vehicle dominance—something largely absent in modern development.
Initiated by NVB’s, now retired, Mark Brierley in 2014 as part of the Wolfson Economics Prize, the project proposes up to 1,700 new homes alongside employment space, education, care facilities and a mixed‑use local centre. The heritage of Frome informed the character area design of the masterplan within a landscape framework.
New housing should be embraced as an opportunity—not a threat—but only when planned comprehensively. Strategic growth enables affordable housing, employment land, sports facilities, transport, solar farms and social infrastructure that piecemeal development can never deliver.
Andrew SimpsonNVB Director
The masterplan is shaped by landscape, transport and ecology, with more than a third of the site dedicated to green infrastructure. This includes biodiversity enhancements that exceed statutory requirements, sustainable drainage that reduces flood risk, and a movement network designed around walking, cycling and rail rather than car dependence.
