Government to decide on 300-home plans in September

By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison

A government minister is to rule in September on whether 300 houses can be built on the edge of Melksham.

In August, Wiltshire Councillors threw out a planning application to build the homes on land at Snarlton Farm.

Bruised by the “flack” they had received for granting a speculative development for 410 houses on the edge of Royal Wootton Bassett, members of the Strategic Planning Committee were in combative mood.

The council’s own planning officers were recommending that the planning application by strategic land developer Catesby Estates for the homes at Snarlton Farm be approved.

Officers also warned elected members that the council was perilously close to a limit of officer-recommended applications that are rejected by councillors before being won at appeal – a breach of which could see decision-making powers removed from the council by the Secretary of State for Housing – at the time Angela Rayner, now Steve Reed.

Members were angry that Melksham Without Parish Council had, just 24 hours earlier, seen the adoption of its community-led five-year planning document, the Neighbourhood Plan.

Backed by 88 per cent of the electorate who voted in a referendum, the plan set out where houses could be built over the next five years – and Snarlton Farm was not on the list.

Furthermore, the parish had more than met its obligation to allocate land for housing, according to the new document.

And the officers’ warnings made councillors question the very reason for the committee.

Chris Brautigam, then a newly-elected Reform UK councillor for Southwick, said, “Why are we sitting here? It’s pointless us being here.”

Committee chairman Ernie Clark (Independent, Hilperton) responded, “Some of the old hands have made the same point: why are we sitting here when we can’t make any decision other than that which the officers recommend?”

The committee refused the application – a decision almost immediately appealed by the applicant.

And in February, the Planning Inspectorate informed Wiltshire Council that it would not be determining the application, choosing instead to refer the matter to the Housing Secretary.

The news was met with dismay by the leader of the council, Ian Thorn, who said, “I think it sweeps away a huge part of our local democracy.

“It’s alarming. It’s absolutely unacceptable. It is a derogation of democratic duty.”

The Secretary of State has now announced he would be issuing a decision “on or before 14th September 2026.”