BUILDING is set to begin later this year after planning permission was granted to build up to 220 new houses on The Mead.
The new development – named White Horse View – will be built by Barratt Homes and incorporate a range of two, three, four, and five bedroom houses, of which 30% will be affordable housing. Show homes are expected to open in autumn this year.
Wiltshire Council has allowed development to go ahead at The Mead, despite denying permission for houses to be built just across the road at Bitham Park. The decision was reached on Friday 13th March, in spite of objections from Westbury Town Council.
The estate will stretch from the Bitham/Mead roundabout to the railway embankment, and west to Bitham Brook. There will be designated green space on the west side of the area.
Traffic will move in and out via a single entrance on The Mead, close to the opening of Somerset Drive. The increase in vehicles brought by 220 new houses was a major theme of residents’ complaints.
Although there were strong objections to the proposed development, Wiltshire Council recorded just seven letters from Westbury’s estimated over 17,000 people.
One resident, Scott Loveridge said, “How can Westbury and even Yarnbrook cope with the inevitable increase in traffic? 220 homes will no doubt have many more than 220 vehicles, and on top of this the people who will travel to visit these households.
“This is an absolute joke and will have a massive impact on the quality of life for the residents of Westbury. Air pollution must already be way over permitted limits and the town is nearly at gridlock anyway.”
Another resident, Malcolm Hitchinson said, “I am completely against this series of changes which, I believe, would be detrimental to Westbury generally and the area of the Mead in particular. Especially as the council do not seem to have any plans to improve the infrastructure of the town, including redevelopment of the town centre, providing a relief road planned and/or reinstating the by-pass into the core plan.”
To see more details of the planning application, consultation responses, and development conditions search for 14/10977/REM on www.wiltshire.gov.uk
