WESTBURY town councillors have once again opposed plans that would see a housing development on land at Bratton Road.
The appellant has been trying to build homes in the area since 2017 and took one of the plans to appeal which was subsequently lost. Since then, applications for a reduced number of houses each time have come to the town council and they have been opposed by town councillors consistently.
The new outline application has reduced the number of houses from 41 to 38, but town councillors have still opposed the plans as they say it still does not fit in with their soon-to-be-published Neighbourhood Plan. Councillors also raised concerns over access to the site.
Town councillors considered the latest application at a meeting of the highways planning and development committee of the town council on Monday 21st November.
Cllr Philip Harcourt said, “The highways proposal is unacceptable; it is too close to the junction at Bitham Park, it is near the entrance to the town where people can approach at quite high speeds from Bratton, and we have already previously spoken about concerns of traffic in that area, with cars parked on the side of the road reducing visibility.
“We are at the mercy of Wiltshire Council’s inability to find a five-year housing land supply and as such, developments like this will rear their heads, but we can object on practical reasons to this.”
Wiltshire Council is required by the government to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. However, as the council can only demonstrate a 4.75-year supply, areas in Wiltshire (such as Westbury) can be targeted by housing developers. Wiltshire Council announced on 4th April this year that they had met 141% of its housing targets over the past three years, but there is still a shortfall in the housing land supply and, as a result, housing developments can be pushed through to resolve supply issues.
Cllr Harcourt added, “If this area is to be considered for housing, considering it is located near the White Horse, we would like to see low density larger homes in keeping with what is currently near it – not high-density rows of houses. This is the wrong development in the wrong location.”
Cllr Jane Russ summarised, “They haven’t listened to us, or solved any of the previous issues.”
The town council opposed the plans on the basis that the highways access is unsuitable, the reduced density of the houses is still too high for this location which is in a prominent position nesting below the White Horse and that the development is outside the remit of the emerging Neighbourhood Plan.
The council also submitted their previous concerns that the area is one of the last remaining green spaces at the edge of Westbury, the town has seen gross overdevelopment with no additional infrastructure, and that this is another consequence of Wiltshire Council’s failure to produce a five-year housing land supply.
To view the plans in full search PL/2022/06046 on Wiltshire Council’s planning and building control public online register.
