Charity calls for homes to be built on brownfield sites

By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison with additional reporting by White Horse News

There is no need to build new houses on fields surrounding Wiltshire’s towns because there is enough potential land on disused industrial, commercial and military sites, a countryside charity says.

A new report by the CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, says there are enough brownfield sites across England to accommodate the Government’s proposed 1.5 million new homes.

Wiltshire’s current Government housing target is around 3,500 new homes a year, with much of the new development expected to take place around rather than inside the county’s towns and city.

A number of Wiltshire towns are expected to take more than 1,000 new homes, including Salisbury, Royal Wootton Bassett, Trowbridge and Melksham, with at least 4,500 homes due to be built south of Chippenham.

In Westbury, recent housing applications include 365 homes at Mane Way, 249 homes at Hawke Ridge Business Park and 145 homes at Glenmore Farm.

CPRE says big housebuilders have lobbied the Government to make it easier for them to build on green fields.

The charity says Wiltshire has 127 brownfield sites covering 167 hectares, with capacity for more than 4,000 homes.

The report urges the Government to adopt a genuine ‘brownfield first’ policy for new housing, including investment to bring forward sites which are not yet commercially viable.

It also calls for targets for affordable and social homes on brownfield sites.

“Ministers should prioritise the plentiful supply of previously developed land, much of it close to where people already live, work and go to school,” say the authors.

“Homes on these sites could be delivered without the delays, infrastructure costs and environmental damage of building on unspoilt countryside.”

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