Let's hear it for the River Frome!

Written by David Heath MP and published in Frome Standard on Fri 11th Apr 2008

The river after which Frome is named is sadly neglected. We tend to get worried when it threatens to flood the town, but there is a real sense that we have turned our back on the river as the asset to the town it certainly is. That may all change if the Friends of the River Frome have their way, and they wrote to me last week about their plans.

I suppose I ought to declare an interest in that the Frome wends its way past the end of (and occasionally through!) my garden in Witham Friary. At that point it's only a few feet wide. In the town its been pretty brutally treated in the past, contained in a concrete canal to keep it under control and serving far too often as a dumping ground for litter, supermarket trolleys and worse. What has never been properly recognised is the environmental, wildlife and recreational value of the river, and how we make it something we can be proud of and use to its potential.

There are some positive signs. The canoe club is thriving. Further downstream old fulling or corn mills have been given a new lease of life as water turbines. But there is no overall vision, no sense of ownership, and that's what the Friends are calling for. I think they're right, and I'm very happy to give them any support I can.