"MORE traffic pouring" on to a key Salisbury road and further land flooding will be the outcome of an additional 106 homes along Netherhampton Road, a city councillor fears.

This is the second member of Salisbury City Council to criticise the latest planning application submitted to Wiltshire Council, calling for up to 106 dwellings north of Netherhampton Road, west of the existing Harnham village and to the north of Harnham Business Park.

This proposal is separate to the plans for 640 new homes also planned for Netherhampton Road, which was given the green light last year.

"Not happy" with the latest development design, submitted by Vistry Homes Limited, Salisbury City Councillor Brian Dalton claims that the new build would cause further traffic in Salisbury, in particular around Harnham Gyratory, and would put more pressure on the River Nadder in an area that already experiences land flooding.

Read more: Plans put forward for more new houses on Netherhampton Road

Speaking about the application and traffic concerns, Cllr Dalton said: "We knew [this proposal] was coming but [we were] hoping it would not appear.

"Yet again, more traffic will be pouring on to the over-capacitated Harnham Gyratory, via Netherhampton and Harnham Roads.

"Netherhampton Road has seen the largest traffic increase across Wiltshire. From 2006 to 2016, traffic along here grew by 17 per cent."

Cllr Dalton fears "the roads cannot cope and are already at or near capacity".

Referring to Wiltshire Council's plans to improve the Gyratory junction, Cllr Dalton added: "The proposed Gyratory works will do nothing, except give all of us who live south of the river one years’ worth of traffic chaos while the council carries out those works, with future chaos included."

 

Salisbury City Councillor Brian Dalton

Salisbury City Councillor Brian Dalton

 

On the issue of flooding Cllr Dalton told the Journal: "This land is quite often under water in wet winters, so I'm waiting to hear what the Environment Agency has to say.

"Surely water could be displaced, putting the Nadder under pressure of flooding again, which could contravene the flood scheme here.

"Quite why Wiltshire wants to develop here is beyond me. If memory serves me well, an application for a petrol station and industrial units was thrown out in the 1980s due to that very piece of land flooding."

"I understand that Wiltshire Council has already exceeded their housing allocation quota. If this is true, then surely, they do not need to proceed with this application," he added.

The Vistry Homes application currently states that affordable housing is to be delivered at 40 per cent in the new development, alongside housing with between one and four bedrooms including bungalows and flats.

The site would also include a new primary school, employment space and country park.

A decision will be made on the application on September 28.

Salisbury City Council's planning committee will be discussing the application in its meeting on Monday August 2, at 6.30pm in the Guildhall.

"Wiltshire needs a new town, somewhere where the M4 can serve it," Cllr Dalton added.

"This would get all the infrastructure to go with it and would take the much-needed pressure away from Salisbury and other towns around Wiltshire."

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