LOCAL residents and Melksham Without Parish Council have welcomed a decision by the developer to withdraw plans for a 150-house development between Melksham and Beanacre.
The controversial proposals for land west of the A350 (Beanacre Road) and north of Dunch Lane were initially submitted last year, with revised plans being submitted in the summer, but now they have been withdrawn.
“We are pleased the application has been withdrawn,” said Melksham Without Parish councillor Richard Wood. “It wasn’t sustainable as it was too far away from schools; Melksham Oak is a trek and it was right by a busy road.”
Both Melksham Without and Melksham Town councils objected to the plans in June, for reasons including the loss of the ‘green buffer’ between Beanacre and Melksham, and its potential to create coalescence between the village and the town; the lack of primary and secondary school places to support the site; the site’s potential to negatively impact traffic flow in the area; the lack of safe pedestrian access to the site; its impact on ‘already overstretched’ GP services within the town; and its impact on biodiversity and ecology in the area, noting that bats and great crested newts have been spotted in the area.
The councils had also drawn attention to Melksham’s Joint Neighbourhood Plan, which protects the community area from ‘unsustainable development’.
Wiltshire Council said no reason was given for the application being withdrawn (this is not a requirement); but there were a number of issues with the proposals ‘which would have likely resulted in a refusal of the proposals’.
The council said the issues included concerns over flooding; that the proposals didn’t accord with the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan; developing this site would have an adverse impact upon the landscape and would coalesce the settlements of Melksham and Beanacre, contrary to Wiltshire Council and Neighbourhood Plan policy.
The council said that the high density was also considered unrealistic for an edge-of-town development and that the development would mean the loss of Grade 3a agricultural land and cause substantial harm to Halfway Farmhouse (a designated heritage asset) identified by the conservation officer.