WESTBURY Town Council has reiterated its objection to a controversial application to build 67 homes on land south of Sandhole Lane for a planning inquiry which will decide it, after the applicants challenged Wiltshire Council’s refusal of the scheme.
Gleeson Strategic Land Ltd’s housing bid for the greenfield site, which is currently fields, met strong objection last year from local MP Andrew Murrison and Westbury Town Council, and residents formed a campaign group against it.
Westbury town councillors made a “very strong” objection to the application and Andrew Murrison has been very critical of it, saying it would exceed granted planning development by at least 20%.
After the plans were refused, Gleeson launched an appeal and the inquiry will now take place in October, with the format yet to be established.
At Westbury Council’s highways, planning and development meeting on Monday cllr Gordon King’s proposal to write to the Planning Inspectorate met unanimous favour.
“This was objected to by the council and a huge number of local people who contributed to representations made to Wiltshire Council, which led to the refusal of this application,” said cllr King.
“Wiltshire Council will be defending that refusal resolutely and we can be assured of that.”
The deadline for comments for the inquiry was Tuesday but cllr King still urged residents to write in and object again.
Committee chair, cllr Mike Sutton, said, “We will write to the planning inspector for the appeal stating that our objections remain the same as before.”
