Plans for 225 homes near Semington Road 

A planning application for 225 new homes near Semington Road has been submitted to Wiltshire Council. 

Bellway Strategic Land has submitted a planning application to build the homes on 11 acres of former chicken farm west of Semington Road. 

The land is on the proposed route of the Melksham Link Canal, a long-planned new waterway intended to reconnect the Wilts & Berks Canal network by linking the River Avon west of Melksham with the Kennet & Avon Canal around Bowerhill. 

The project is the subject of a planning application first submitted in 2012 by the Wiltshire & Berkshire Canal Trust and is included in the Wiltshire Core Strategy. 

Bellway says it has co-operated with the canal trust and Wiltshire Council to integrate the route of the proposed waterway into the masterplan for the new estate. 

Plans show the canal running through the middle of the development, with a bridge connecting the two sides. A towpath, with cycling and walking provision, would form part of the plan. 

The proposal would also involve the demolition of five Second World War buildings. They include a former guard house, a crumbling brick tower, and two Stanton air raid shelters. Heritage consultants say the structures are in “a poor and altered state” and “hold no intrinsic value.” 

The site is next to housing to the east, including Bellway’s Bowood View development. A housing development under construction lies to the north. It is around a kilometre south of Melksham High Street, with Melksham Railway Station 1.7 kilometres away. 

Wiltshire Council’s consultation deadline is 1st October.