‘Common sense’ wins as Shurnhold appeal shut down

A GOVERNMENT inspector this month affirmed a Wiltshire Council decision and threw out a controversial application to build 263 homes opposite the George Ward site in Melksham.

Wiltshire Council refused to grant permission in July 2015 and applicant Gladman Homes appealed against the decision 12 weeks later. The Government dealt the final blow to Gladman when it dismissed the appeal earlier this month – nearly two years after the application was first made.

The decision has been welcomed by the town; councils and residents fought hard against the plan and hundreds signed a petition to ward it off.

Town councillor for Melksham North, Pat Aves told Melksham News, “We’re so relieved the decision was upheld. I was worried and it felt like it could have gone either way, but the application was so wrong for the area. It was abhorrent, in my view.

“Gladman are known to be an aggressive developer and they just appeal everything because they can. They’re in the business to make money and weren’t considering the needs of people already living in the area.

“There are already issues with flooding there and traffic on the main road would have been horrendous.

“The application was never acceptable; we’ve wasted so much time and effort working on it, and it put a lot of stress on local people for what? It has cost thousands of pounds to make a common sense decision.”

If approved, the application would have seen a housing estate the same size as George Ward Gardens built just yards away on the other side of the road, on fields behind Shurnhold Farm Business Park.

After Gladman made the application at Shurnhold the company came under fire in a Daily Mail investigation which called it a ‘predatory developer’. The tabloid said the company would “bulldoze past local objections” in order to build homes on farmland across the country.

The Government inspector’s final decision listed 160 items under the subheading ‘Reasons’ and ended, “I have come to the conclusion that the harm which I have identified outweighs the benefits which count in support of development. As such the proposal does not represent sustainable development.”

Shaw resident Mark Ashkowski was vocal in his campaign against the development and also attended the appeal hearing alongside one other local resident. Wiltshire Council  sent seven representatives to defend its decision.

Mark said on the decision, “From the outset the community knew that these plans were flawed, and so we sent our objections to Gladman Homes who continued with their scheme, unconcerned by the weight of local opposition.

“We made our objections to Wiltshire Council, and the council listened and rejected the application. But Gladman were not deterred and they appealed to the Secretary of State. Yet again, the community pulled together and made its objections, with some going so far as to attend the planning inquiry.

“Against this backdrop of shared effort, it really is a delight to see the decision of HM Planning Inspector, rejecting Gladman’s appeal, and putting a stop to the planned development. The community was right, the community won.”