410-home plan backed despite 'loss of gap' concerns

The plan for up to 410 homes is on a 27 hectare site under a mile and a half from Junction 16 of the M4

A development with up to 410 houses has been approved despite concerns it would remove the gap between a market town and Swindon.

David Wilson Homes applied for outline planning permission, or approval of the broad concept, for the homes on agricultural land at Upper Woodshaw, on the east of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Wiltshire Council received 418 letters of objection from residents, many expressing concern over the merging of the market town and Swindon.

However, Katherine Jones, from the developer's agent Carter Jonas, said the new development would "help to address Wiltshire's housing shortfall" and secure "'£3.4m in community benefits". Plans were approved due to the housing need.

Ms Jones said the benefits included land for a nursery school, a walkable neighbourhood and new open spaces and play areas.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the proposed 27 hectare site is under a mile and a half from Junction 16 of the M4, off the A3102 behind Sally Pussey's Inn, and over a mile from the centre of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Sian Keeling, development director at David Wilson Homes, said 98 of the houses would be for affordable rent, 41 would be reserved for first-time buyers, and 25 would be offered in shared ownership.

The houses would typically be two-storeys tall, with some standing at two-and-a-half storeys, the developer said.

Claims the development would be geared towards cycling and walking were met with credulity by some councillors, after hearing the nearest primary school, secondary school, and supermarket were all between 25 and 35 minutes' walk away.

It then emerged the developers had committed to buying each household two Stagecoach MegaRiders bus passes for six months, at a cost of £410,000, to encourage the new residents to use public transport.

However, the developer was encouraged to invest the money into existing public transport provision instead.

In a final bid to get the application rejected, Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Matthews described the development as a "speculative, car-dependent development in open countryside, disconnected from the town centre" which would cause "significant increase" to traffic on a road already congested at peak times.

He added the houses would be built on "part of the rural buffer separating the town from Swindon – something that residents feel very strongly about."

But despite the protestations, permission was granted because of the shortfall in Wiltshire's housing land allocation.