THE director of EV Naish has questioned the legitimacy of planning decisions when councillors fail to attend site visits on which they then vote.

Geoff Naish watched on Thursday as councillors voted against plans to demolish 18 factory buildings at EV Naish in Crow Lane, Wilton, and build 61 homes.

Five councillors voted against the outline planning application at the Southern Area Planning Committee with three in support.

In a letter to the Journal, Mr Naish said: “The three members who visited and viewed the site saw the difficulties of manufacturing in the unsuitable buildings, and voted overwhelmingly for the application, and understood the lengths to which we have gone to overcome the issues of the site.

“It should also be noted that the planning committee had made a specific request for a site visit on the day of the planning meeting, which was arranged.

“However, not one of the five committee members who voted against the application took the time to visit the site – and to the best of my knowledge have never visited the site, which is private and does not have public access.

“This raises the serious question of whether in order to be eligible to vote, it should be a requirement that committee members must visit the site on which they will be making a decision and voting.”

Mr Naish added: “Members on the night took hearsay to refuse an application against officers’ advice, against a scheme that officers and statutory consultees had signed off as acceptable, and which they had no technical justification to refuse.

“Clearly there is an issue with this old industrial site with poor access in the centre of Wilton which has to be addressed.

“There was also an opportunity that affordable housing could have been provided, but this will not happen with the rejection of the application.

“The application, if approved, would have enabled EV Naish to re-invest locally in a new facilities for Naish Felts and Wallgate to provide a secure future manufacturing base.

“We want to be able to re-invest locally, but it raises the question whether the local authority actually want us to re-invest or not.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said site visits were not compulsory and that the committee reports and officer presentations should provide "ample information" for councillors to determine applications.