WORD has reached me in a roundabout way of a proposal for another mega-development along Southampton Road.

Roundabout being an appropriate term, because it would be slap next to the one outside Tesco. Maybe we should rename it the Magic Roundabout, because developers seem to believe it possesses a magical capacity to absorb ever more traffic without a hint of a jam!

‘Pre-app discussions’ – i.e. sounding out the authorities - are taking place involving land opposite the Premier Inn and ‘drive-thru’ McDonald’s which are destined to form such an architecturally distinguished entrance to our medieval city.

You know the wonderful overgrown fields full of wildlife that I mean, where Sainsbury’s once proposed to plonk a superstore on stilts complete with designed-to-flood car park.

A site that Wiltshire’s spatial planners described at that time as “not appropriate for development of any kind”.

Well, somebody hasn’t been listening, because there is talk of two very large ‘units’ – one with a whopping 52,000 sq ft of floor space - plus a garden centre, 249 parking spaces, and another ‘drive-thru’ (Starbucks, I’m told).

We are often urged to agree to ‘core strategies’ allocating development sites even when elements of them are unwelcome, on the grounds that these officially approved policies protect us from even worse, speculative schemes.

But they don’t seem to protect us from anyone with deep pockets who fancies their chances. Our overstretched planners must deal with the consequences. These talks are highly confidential, naturally. I haven’t bothered asking Wiltshire about them because it’s a waste of time.

Surely not?

Well, I recently asked the council about ‘pre-app’ talks involving another unspoilt spot. (I’m saving it for later!)

I was motivated by concern about the targeting of greenfield sites in the absence of a Neighbourhood Plan.

In a Freedom of Information request, I asked simply whether talks had taken place, when, and who was present.

This was the bland brush-off I received:

“It is in the wider public interest that potential developers are able to seek advice on planning applications on a confidential basis.

“The public’s right to challenge a planning application is not affected by non-disclosure of the requested information. That right can be formally exercised during the formal planning process.

“The ability for developers to submit confidential requests for pre-application advice saves the council and the developers time, money and resources.”

Does this system fill your heart with trust?

For example, if the planners’ professional view is that an often-waterlogged greenfield site is not suitable for, and not zoned for, any development whatsoever, what else is there to discuss? Except, perhaps, the odds on a government inspector overruling them!

Further down the road (or up, depending which way you’re heading!) there could be good news.

Homeware giant The Range is seeking planning permission to take over the doomed Homebase site, and says it will offer jobs to Homebase staff. Yet oddly enough, The Range is the name I’ve heard in connection with the roundabout site, too.

Their PR people will only say that the chain is keen to come to Salisbury. So it would seem.

anneriddle36@gmail.com