WESTBURY town councillors have opposed plans to convert a vacant shop on Maristow Street into a house, saying they want to see the area regenerated with more businesses, not houses.
The applicant has plans to change the use of 21A Maristow Street, (previously operating as Westbury Tackle), from Class E (shop) to Class C3 (dwelling), but town councillors have objected on the grounds that they should be encouraging more businesses to the area – not removing potential businesses for houses.
This was discussed at a meeting of the highways planning and development committee of the town council on Monday 21st November, with cllr Mark Bailey suggesting that allowing this would go against the town council’s plans for regenerating the area.
“Once the shops have gone that’s it, they’ve gone,” he said. “We have lost a lot of shops on Maristow Street already and we have plans to regenerate the town centre and this street in particular, so it would seem backwards to go against that plan.
“We have already started to see new growth. There are three new businesses already so I think we should be doing everything we can to help them and avoid all the shops in that area turning into more houses.”
Cllr Gordon King added, “The whole character of Maristow Street has changed over the years from what was one of the most attractive retail streets in the county to where it is now and we should look after it as much as we can.”
Town councillors voted unanimously to object to the plans on the basis that the town council is currently making plans to regenerate the area, that there are three new businesses in the area and so the town council should be encouraging more growth, not less, and that it will alter the historic nature of this picturesque retail street.
The plans will be looked at by Wiltshire Council soon. To view the plans in full search PL/2022/08541 on Wiltshire Council’s planning portal.
