MELKSHAM Without Parish councillors have met with representatives of Taylor Wimpey, who have outline planning permission to build up to 213 homes on land outside Bowerhill on Pathfinder Way. The meeting took place ahead of their ‘reserved matters’ application.
Parish clerk, Teresa Strange said, “We feel that it is better to meet with the developers ahead of any application that they make, so that we can talk to them about their plans and suggest any changes that we feel need to be made.
“This development is happening, we can’t stop it, so we’d rather work with them to get the best for the area. Once the application has been submitted, it is too difficult to get the developers to make any changes; it’s too late. So we are meeting with them early on to achieve this.
“The meeting with Taylor Wimpey was very positive. We highlighted that a planned play area was in the wrong place and got them to move it to the other side of the road.
“As the parish council will be taking on legal ownership of the play area, we want to make sure that it meets our requirements – things like painting the gate to the play area red and the location of bins – it’s best that the developer pays for these things now, rather than it be left to the council after they have finished and handed it over to us.
“We also discussed naming the roads after the local RAF history and putting in a footpath to connect the area with Bowerhill.
“We also met with their highways team as there will be some closures to Pathfinder Way during the build, so we talked about how best to lessen the impact by sharing our local knowledge.”
Taylor Wimpey has yet to submit their ‘reserved matters’ application. Currently the plans for the development list there being up to 213 new homes with 30% affordable housing, space for a primary school and a children’s play area.
A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey Bristol commented, “We have not yet submitted our reserved matters application – this is currently being worked up with a view to submitting in the near future.”
The parish council has also met with Bellway Homes who plan to build up to 150 new homes on land east of Semington Road. The developer will be providing a new village hall for the area.
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