Future Chippenham: Housing development is 'under threat'

The new homes would be built on the outskirts of Chippenham

A huge housing development could be in peril unless an agreement can be reached over funding.

Two years' ago it was announced tens of millions of pounds had been secured to build a road and thousands of homes as part of the Future Chippenham plan.

The development has proved controversial, with some locals launching legal action against it.

Now Wiltshire Council's leader has said time is running out to reach an agreement with the government.

The council has long planned for Chippenham to be one of the big growth areas of the county.

In 2019 it announced funding had been secured to build a loop road around the southern and eastern edges of the town to help cope with what was originally planned to be 7,000 new homes.

The plans faced strong local opposition however, even when they were scaled back to 4,000 homes, and even though campaigners who argued the council had not followed the rules lost their case, they have now lodged new action with the Court of Appeal.

Campaigner Helen Stride said: "People feel extremely attached to their beautiful countryside, its one of the reasons people live in Wiltshire, and they don't want it covered in concrete, covered in roads, and unnecessary housing.

"I think that's the really important message to get across… none of this really stacks up, this is unfortunately about commuter housing. We really don't want to sacrifice something that is so precious to the people of Chippenham"

Dr Helen Stride has been one of the leading campaigners against the development

A council meeting on Tuesday will be told that in order for the plans to go ahead, an agreement must be found between Wiltshire Council and government department Homes England.

Wiltshire Council leader Richard Clewer has warned that if this does not happen, the new homes may not be built.

He said the Future Chippenham project had reached the stage where if any significant work began it would "expose the council to substantial financial risk".

He said work should be paused until a new Grant Determination Agreement (GDA) could be agreed with the government.

"However, we cannot pause indefinitely so if a revised GDA cannot be agreed soon, the council may need to negotiate an exit from the existing GDA as it will not be possible to deliver the project within the Housing Infrastructure Funding period without exposing the council to financial risk," he added.

"The sad outcome whatever happens is housing will still need to be built, the question is whether we can proceed with infrastructure led development or not.

"And if we don't get this resolved then we will be back to the cookie-cutter developments that nobody wants to see"