THE issue of safety for children using a railway line crossing from a new housing development to local schools, has taken another twist.
Town councillors who were considering a plan from Linden Homes to build an extra six dwellings at their development near Westbury Sailing Lake, said the town council was still awaiting a response about whether a safer pedestrian crossing over the railway line will be installed.
The council has raised fears on several occasions about the current arrangement of a lights controlled crossing rather than a locking gate, saying it is “an accident waiting to happen”.
Considering the developers’ latest submission at the town council’s highways, planning and development committee, cllr Mike Sutton said the committee should respond with their previous comment that they would not review any further applications by Linden Homes until they addressed the safety issue.
But, chair, cllr Ian Cunningham said the latest bid was a planning issue and they needed to object.
“This site is a 250-homes site. They’ve got 300, they’re now pushing for 306 – that’s 50 houses over the original specification of this site, so I think they have had one bite of the cherry already,” he said.
“I don’t mind noting that we are unhappy about the additional point, but I would like to object – I don’t think another 6 houses is appropriate.”
Cllr Sheila Kimmins said, “I would also object to this for a number of reasons – that Linden Homes have not contributed any money towards the bridge at Main Way, no social housing or so-called affordable housing. This town doesn’t need more houses on this site, this town needs affordable housing that local people can afford. They’ve had at least one bite of the cherry, and this should be objected to.”
Cllr Ward Jones agreed they needed to object, to stop a “planning creep”.
Members voted unanimously to object to the application on grounds of over-development, egress to and from the site and concerns over safety.
