'Roman villa' site's 180-home plans set for approval

The land, which Historic England argue hides the remains of a Roman villa, has been marked for 180 new homes

Plans to build 180 homes on land that "hides the remains of a Roman Villa" could soon be approved.

Residents hoped to protect the land at Southwick Court Fields near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, by appealing for it to be granted village green status.

Wiltshire Council’s planning committee will vote on Wednesday to determine the future of the space, but a new report recommends refusing the special status.

Local experts and Historic England argue the area hides the remains of a Roman villa complex, and has “potential national importance”.

Land developer Waddeton Park and Savills recently won their appeal with a planning inspector against the council’s refusal to allow new homes on the site.

Residents previously had gathered about 150 petition signatures to request the council register the area as a village green.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, they had to argue “a significant number of inhabitants” had “indulged in sports and pastime on the land for a period of at least 20 years".

Councillors appointed an independent inspector to carry out a non-statutory public inquiry, the results of which were presented to councillors at a meeting in April.

The report advised councillors reject the village green application on the grounds that not enough “lawful sports and pastimes” occur on the lower section of the land.

The inspector had also discounted the northern part of the land from the application because it had been included in the council’s local plan, something which in planning law is referred to as a trigger event.

Trigger events mean a local authority cannot accept a town or village green application on the relevant site.

But in the latest meeting councillor David Vigar questioned whether the trigger event was valid.

Committee members agreed to delay the decision so a senior lawyer could investigate.

A new report will be presented to councillors on Wednesday, which confirms the existence of ongoing planning-related trigger events. This lawfully blocks the village green registration for parts of the land, the reports states.