The public consultation about the development proposals all over Salisbury (Wiltshire Council Regulation 19 Consultation) ends on Wednesday, November 22 at 5pm.  

This date closes the door on an opaque process which is at best daunting, and at worst completely confounding.

Do you feel strongly about any of the selected sites? If so, please respond. It doesn’t have to be lengthy.  

Your response is called a representation and should supply evidence and supporting information. This needs to be done online although it is possible to send a letter or email to which you have to attach the form, which can be printed out (and is available online (!).

Photos are very useful and can be attached to a document within the website, or sent by letter to the Spatial Planning Directorate, Wiltshire Council, County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wilts, BA14 8JN or spatialplanningpolicy@wiltshire.gov.uk.  

Wiltshire Council collates all the responses and sends them to a planning inspector who will make a judgement as to whether the various policies within the plan are “(i) Legal, (ii) Sound, and (iii) Compliant with a duty to cooperate”.

I live in Britford and consider the proposal to build on Site 6, the field between Britford and Salisbury, complete madness. 

Residents in Britford held a public meeting attended by over 100 people which has raised funds from far and wide to get specialist advice- an 87-year-old former resident now living elsewhere contributed and wrote explaining why the hydrology of the area is fundamental to all considerations regarding development.

This is true for Site 6 (also, confusingly, called Policy 26) but probably for many of our sites. 

Following the lead of Laverstock Parish Council, Britford too appointed a barrister to advise how best to respond and it is so encouraging that people outside the area who value Britford’s rural setting - the hundreds and hundreds who walk, jog, bike and take their kids along the footpath through the fields are lending support.

It is great to feel part of a wider raft of support and goodwill, including some people in Harnham who set up the website and campaign tirelessly to keep the countryside path to a village, not a path through a suburb - for everyone from Salisbury.

Not forgetting those who are keen to preserve the heritage of a conservation village on the water-meadows!

A demonstration next Wednesday, November 22, outside the Wiltshire Council offices in Trowbridge against Site 6 has been organised by local people who despite not living in Britford feel very strongly about it.

Those living in the villages to the south recognise what it will mean in terms of the lost views of the spire not just for them, but for all visitors, forever, and dread the further 300 cars joining Downton Road queues.

The demo is for the Britford site, but perhaps our website could be useful to everyone, whatever their concerns, in navigating the difficult process of responding: Britfordfield.com.

Victoria Sturgeon

Address supplied

Send letters by email to newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk or by post to Editor, Salisbury Journal, Suite B (Ground Floor), Milford House, Milford Street, Salisbury, SP1 2BP.