WESTBURY Town councillors have raised concern about more planned housing developments for the town.
Whilst discussing two planning applications recently, they raised objections about overdevelopment, access onto roads, and said the town does not have the infrastructure, such as schools, doctors and dentists, to support more houses.
The town council’s role is to advise on the applications, but the final decision on planning applications will be made by Wiltshire councillors, at a later date.
In one application to build 145 homes at Glenmore Farm in The Ham, councillors heard that the applicant had been trying to build in the area since 2015.
Massive housing estate
Cllr Mike Sutton said, “This is a massive housing estate and while this falls outside of the Westbury area, it will certainly impinge on the town as whoever lives there will use the services of Westbury and we have formally objected to this in the past – at least twice when it has come up.”
In another returning application, for 41 new houses at Bratton Road, the area has been a target for development over a number of years. Although the plans are for a smaller number of houses, councillors described the site as one of the last green spaces that are left on the edge of Westbury.
They said that the plans do not fit in with the town council’s soon-to-be-published Neighbourhood Plan.
Last green boundary
Cllr Mike Sutton said, “For context, there have been other proposals in this area throughout the years, where land has been bought up all along that area.
“A few years ago, we had an application for a big development for 400 or so houses going down to the cements works and the golf club, all the way to Coach Road – so this is definitely smaller than what was proposed. This, however, is the last green boundary for Westbury before we go into the next parish, and it is certainly encroaching.”
Councillors also talked about the difficulties of land supply targets and again, the lack of infrastructure in the town to support more housing.
Wiltshire Council is required by the government to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, but has been unable to demonstrate such a supply.
Speaking on this issue, cllr Sutton added, “We’ve already witnessed gross over-development in the town, with no added infrastructure, and this is just another to add to the pile.
Infrastructure can’t support growth
“Westbury seems to be targeted more than any other town in Wiltshire and there simply isn’t the infrastructure to support this growth.”
He continued, “This is another consequence of a lack of a housing plan, and we deplore Wiltshire Council’s failure to agree a five-year housing land supply, as we get bombarded with more developments such as this.”
