RESIDENTS have been given an extra week to submit their views on plans to build 135 homes in Laverstock after a council IT failure meant that they were unable to register their comments.

The planning application to build 135 houses on Church Road in Laverstock, also includes green infrastructure landscaping, a sustainable urban drainage system and utility buildings. 

Read more: Planning applications in and around Salisbury

If the planning application is approved, there would also be a car park with up to 50 spaces with access from Church Road.

Milford Area Preservation Group Chair, David Lovibond said: “The Milford Area Preservation Group has been helping to distribute hundreds of leaflets in Laverstock and Milford advising residents unhappy with the proposal to build 135-houses in open countryside along Church Road on how to register their objection.

“The deadline for submissions was tomorrow. It was frustrating, therefore, that the Wiltshire Council planning website, where comments had to be made, crashed last week when objections were already more than 150."

Initially set for Tuesday, May 16, the consultation period has now been extended by one week.  

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David added: "We asked Richard Clewer, Leader of Wilts Council, to help get the deadline extended and thanks to his intervention, and that of Cllrs Ian McLennan and Charles McGrath, residents now have until the 23rd to make their comments.

"The problem, of course, is that many people who tried to register their objections and failed to do so, through no fault of theirs, will have given up trying.”

Those who wish to have their say on the building of 135 houses should email developmentmanagement@wiltshire.gov.uk and comments will be added to the case file for publishing.