Residents resist 700-homes plan (From Swindon Advertiser)

Residents resist 700-homes plan

10:00am Thursday 16th February 2012 in Local By Josh Layton

RESIDENTS and elected representatives were united in speaking out against a housing development just across Swindon’s western border yesterday.

Wiltshire Council voted to reject the application from Taylor Wimpey to build 700 homes on Ridgeway Farm north of Peatmoor and Sparcells.

A planning inspector is already due to carry out a public inquiry into the development, which will include a new primary school, on May 9 in Chippenham.

The meeting was held by the council’s Strategic Planning Committee, where members supported their officers’ recommendation to refuse.

Though the secretary of state will make a decision after the inquiry, the motion was taken to confirm the council’s position.

Dr Richard Pagett, of Purton sustainability group Ps & Qs, said: “The investor, Taylor Wimpey, maintains that numerous studies have concluded that land at Ridgeway Farm represents the most sustainable and appropriate location for the growth they are intending.

“We maintain that this location is not sustainable and cannot be demonstrated as such and we have demonstrated this with 35 pages of technical analysis and argument which is with the officers and the council and on their website.”

Mr Pagett also told the meeting at the council’s HQ, in Chippenham, that the overwhelming opposition to the plans meant local democracy itself was at stake.

Swindon South MP Robert Buckland, who represented both local residents and North Wilts MP James Gray, said: “In the decade since the expansion of Swindon began, planned growth has led to considerable benefits in terms of the prosperity and progress of our town.

“But there are times when development proposals fall foul of the high standards that residents and businesses expect. This proposal falls far short in my opinion.

“This bolt-on of a large of a large suburban area would inevitably generate commuter traffic and further overload a local road system that is already highly congested at peak times."

Mr Buckland also said the ‘piecemeal nature’ of the application meant the ‘cumulative effect’ was in danger of being ignored.

“Just because the land doesn’t lie in the borough of Swindon, doesn’t mean this isn’t very much an issue for Swindon residents, which is why I have come here today to strongly oppose these proposals,” he said.

The developers reduced the number of houses it wanted to build from 800 to 700 last summer, having submitting the plans in December 2010.

Wiltshire Council has received 1,032 objections to the proposal, including one from Swindon Council, as well as from ward councillors for Shaw and Nine Elms. The decision will be made by the secretary of state after the eight-day inquiry.