'Rock and hard place' concern as homes approved

A developer has been given the go ahead to build 58 homes in a village - but only after some councillors complained they had no other choice.

Wiltshire Council's planning committee approved outline permission for the homes on farmland at Berryfield, near Melksham.

The committee heard there had been 160 objections to the proposal - although many were about potentially building over the route of a nearby canal. Plans had been reduced from 68 to 58 homes after talks between applicant Martin Grant Homes, drainage specialists and the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust.

Councillor Charlie Stokes said the committee was "stuck between a rock and a hard place" as it would struggle to win an appeal if it refused.

The committee was told the revised National Planning Policy Framework, published shortly before the meeting, strengthened the case for approval because Wiltshire Council could not demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

Planning officers told the committee meeting that under new government rules, national policy took precedence over local policy where councils had a housing-land-supply shortfall – as Wiltshire does.

David Pafford, speaking for Melksham Without Parish Council and the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan's qualifying bodies, said they "maintained a strong objection" to the plans.

He said Wiltshire Council's lack of an up-to-date Local Plan had created a "planning vacuum" in which developers were making speculative applications.

The proposal for 3.7 hectares of farmland was approved unanimously by the committee's nine members.

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