RESIDENTS of Forest have won their battle to save land off Woodrow Road from being built on.
The fight to stop the 77 homes being built on the land began in April last year but following pressure from Wiltshire Council and the scheme being contrary to Wiltshire Council’s core strategy, the applicants, housing developer Waddeton Park Ltd, have now withdrawn their appeal.
Plans to build 152 houses on the land were originally submitted last April and were met with huge objections from local residents who fought a tough campaign to have the application thrown out.
In August 2016, both Melksham Town and Melksham Without Parish councils objected to the plans and in March this year, the number of houses were reduced to 77 after possible Roman artefacts were found.
Subsequently in April the application was thrown out by Wiltshire Council entirely.
Wiltshire councillor and local resident Phil Alford said, “This comes as a massive relief to all of us on Woodrow Road and the surrounding parts of Melksham, as well as over in Lacock. This development was going to be a nightmare and it was in completely the wrong place.
“Over the past 18 months we mobilised all the people in our group and really pulled together as a community. This outcome is a testament to our hard work and the planning department recognised this.”
Sue Carter, who started the campaign against the plan, is thrilled with the result.
“We are absolutely thrilled although we were shocked it has been withdrawn. But this is exactly what we were hoping for,” she said.
“More than 200 people in the group have worked really hard on this. Everybody has contributed towards this. They have definitely made a lot of difference.”
