640 Netherhampton Road homes likely to go ahead

The application was considered last Wednesday by Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Planning Committee, in a meeting in Trowbridge which was met with widespread public criticism.

The meeting saw several objections to the plans voiced, including environmental issues and concerns with the affect the development would have on local infrastructure.

Mike Wilmott, Head of Development Management for Wiltshire Council, said: “The situation we have to address here is the housing land supply – we don’t have a five-year land supply in this area.

“We are actually a few hundred short. In these circumstances, the government says planning permission should be granted unless there are adverse impacts that significantly and demonstrably out way the benefits, which we don’t think there are.”

“Our recommendation, at the end of the day, is to defer a decision, subject to a Section 106 being completed, which can take weeks or months.”

A Section 106 is a legal agreement between an applicant seeking planning permission and the local planning authority, which is used to mitigate the impact of new homes on the local community and infrastructure.

The majority of people who were present at the meeting objected to the plans.

Simon Jackson, who is a Salisbury City Councillor for Harnham, but was at the meeting in a personal capacity, said: “This application should be deferred or rejected until many unanswered questions are fully resolved.

“There are concerns for Netherhampton and Quidhampton, there many concerns about housing plans. Nearly 1000 homes could be built.

“Why have the findings of the planning inspector not been published? Why is it being rushed? Why are objections being ignored?

“There are traffic problems, there is no realistic infrastructure plan. A fully-funded and designed plan is needed before a decision can be made. Detail is missing, funding is not secured,

“The implications for city could be dire, and Wiltshire Council will place its environmental credentials in serious doubt.”

Victoria Sturgeon, a resident of Britford, echoed these environmental concerns, especially with regards to flooding.

She said: “It seems remarkably ill-conceived to be building next to a flood plain. On this alone, the plan can not be justified in any way.”

“This is scurrilous way of rushing through an application, which is not within the boundaries of the neighbourhood plan.

“It is also clear that this development could go ahead without monies approved to improve infrastructure.”

Wiltshire Councillor for Harnham, Brian Dalton, said: “This application seems to fly in the face of the climate emergency declared by Wiltshire Council - no super insulation, no solar panels included, no electric vehicles charging points.

“This application is only here because of this housing land shortage. The inspector has yet determined if the site should be for housing. Remember that.

“I urge the committee to refuse this, or defer it to Salisbury to a later date.”

Wiltshire Councillor for Fovant and Chalke Valley, Josie Green, said: “Please defer or reject this application.

“Salisbury is the jewel in the crown of the county, and if anything was done to jeopardise it, I’d fall into despair.”

However Conservative Councillor for Amesbury West, Fred Westmoreland, is in favour of the development: “There is an element of trepidation on what this is likely to mean.

“640 isn’t an immense number. We had something like 3,000 in Amesbury, and we’ve managed to absorb that with any new roads.”

Cllr Westmoreland added: “We need this. We cannot refuse this. There are no real, genuine, substantial reasons to refuse this. It is not going to be loved by Harnham, but it is a necessary development. To object it would be perverse.

“The development will happen. Once a piece of land has been identified as appropriate, eventually someone will build on it.”

A final decision is expected in 2020. View the planning application online at bit.ly/2RfXkAB