Councillors disappointed by 145-homes plan

A BID to build 145 homes in the Ham is “disappointing” and “totally inappropriate”, Westbury Town Council says.

The council’s planning committee has objected to Land Value Alliances  LLP’s application for up to 145 homes on land at Glenmore Farm, The Ham.

A similar application for over 140 houses on land at Glenmore Farm was shelved in 2016 by Taylor Wimpey. The application attracted strong opposition from local residents, who set up the  campaign group ‘Stop Glenmore Farm Development’.

At the latest town council planning committee meeting members agreed to object to LVA LLP’s proposal. 

They felt though the development was outside the parish boundary, every house would impact Westbury, with residents need ing schools, medical facilities and shops – but with no infrastructure improvements planned to help manage that.

Councillors also said they are against building on the countryside and had concerns about water and drainage, traffic, the inappropriate access and the design of the new properties.

Committee chair cllr Mike Sutton told White Horse News, “We are disappointed that this application has been submitted because we feel it is a totally inappropriate location and road access would be difficult and unsafe.

“Although it is not within the Westbury boundary, any CIL money would go to a neighbouring parish, but all the problems associated with the proposed development would fall on Westbury, with many if not all of the residents using the town’s facilities and services.”

The proposal site, which covers approximately 7.8 hectares, is bounded to the north by the West Wilts Trading Estate, Hawkeridge Road to the east, The Ham to the south east and existing residential development and fields to the south west.

The developers have said that the application is being made because of Wiltshire Council’s failure to maintain a five-year land supply – which means there is an insufficient number of ‘deliverable sites’ to provide five years’ worth of housing.

They say, “Wiltshire cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of land for housing in line with national policy requirements. To help address this shortfall, outline planning permission is being sought on this site.”

News of the proposal followed the announcement by Wiltshire Council that Westbury could have a target to build 710 new houses over the next 15 years as part of their new Local Plan, which is currently under public consultation.

For more information about the new proposal, visit the website: http://glenmorefarmwestbury.co.uk

Heywood Parish Council will discuss the application at a meeting on 29th June. The deadline for comments to Wiltshire Council is July 2nd, with a decision due by July 12th.