DID I espy a mini-outbreak of democracy at County Hall last Wednesday?

I truly believe I did.

The occasion was a cabinet meeting to discuss where new housing should be built in the county.

Normally these things are pretty much rubber-stamping exercises. Complaints are smoothed over with vague promises to see what can be done later. Never happens.

But this time Call Me Jane was in listening mode.

She paid close attention to various members from in and around Trowbridge who protested that last-minute changes had been made by spatial planning officers to the proposals (all 8,538 pages of them, to be read online, I kid you not!) without parish and town councils, let alone the public, being properly consulted.

Estates were plonked where nobody – except the big builders – wanted them, principally on green fields, when there were brownfield sites available.

The planners’ argument is that they can’t force developers to develop these brownfield sites. They could if they didn’t give them greenfield ones to play with instead. It’s just a game of hardball.

Anyway, instead of bulldozing through this massive package, the cabinet put it off till July, with instructions for all councillors to be further consulted about sites in their areas.

Now I don’t know whether the recent leadership challenge – withdrawn after a promise to pay more heed to her Tory backbenchers – was behind Baroness Scott’s newly compliant mood.

But former LibDem leader Jon Hubbard felt compelled to say how “refreshing” it was, adding: “Today we have seen democracy take place and I commend you for it.”

I wonder what it will mean for Salisbury and south Wiltshire? I don’t expect there will be many changes. The council hasn’t got the time, money or the will to revisit previous years’ mistakes.

And most of our local elected members aren’t exactly proactive about planning.

But one good outcome could be the removal of proposals for 100 homes to the north of Netherhampton Road – in effect, an extension of Harnham on greenfield land.

It’s not yet been designated a strategic site, and a better option has come up.

This is the eyesore laughably referred to as ‘Harnham Business Park’ in front of Booker’s cash and carry.

Now you might not expect me to be waxing enthusiastic about a scheme that will make a consortium of very wealthy people, like those who own this so-called ‘park’, considerably wealthier.

But this one does make sense.

I don’t know how vigorously the land has been marketed for business purposes but it’s been vacant for yonks, and it’s not going to ruin visitors’ views of the cathedral or concrete over valuable archaeology – both serious objections to the greenfield site.

It’s brownfield, infill development. Just what we’re supposed to encourage.

Although no-one wants to see any more traffic using Netherhampton Road than at present, that’s going to happen one way or another.

Plus, the would-be developers are currently offering 40 per cent affordable housing, which, if enforceable, would be fantastic.

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