Each year the town council undertakes a town benchmarking survey to see how Frome measures up nationally.
Overall, the latest survey is good news for the town, concluding ‘Frome continues to be a successful and popular local service centre’.
Other findings show that Frome:
- has a considerably low shop vacancy rate
- the amount of independent shops has become a leading characteristic of the town
- has a high footfall and popular retail offer
- is attracting more visitors from further away and becoming a travel destination, bolstered by the exceptionally high rate of town centre users that would recommend a visit to Frome.
But the downsides include:
- parking which remains an issue for businesses in the town centre and is now regarded as a negative for town centre users who previously thought of positively about it. Calls for free parking from businesses and town centre users continue.
- The physical appearance and the cleanliness of the town was also highlighted. Although businesses regarded the physical appearance and cleanliness of the town centre as a positive aspect of the town, a much smaller per centage of town centre users felt the same way. This is reinforced by the fact that the responses from town centre users in 2016 which were highly in favour of the appearance of the town.
The report has called for this downturn, as well as parking issues, to be discussed with Mendip District Council to identify solutions.
You can find previous surveys on the Frome Town Council’s website here.