Meeting the needs of Melksham’s growing population

The Melksham area faces another huge surge in population over the coming years with over 260 houses under construction, and planning applications for over 1,800 new houses now or in the pipeline for approval by Wiltshire Council.

There is growing concern about the capacity of local public services to cope with meeting the needs of the rapidly increasing local population in the MNPSG area. Local doctors report that there are over 28,000 patient registrations at their surgeries. This is close to Wiltshire Council’s projected population in Melksham estimate for 2021.

For the past year the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (MNPSG) has been working through five Task Groups to prepare recommendations about land use for possible future development in the Melksham Town and Melksham Without Parish Council areas.

A Neighbourhood Plan is a statutory document, which gives local communities more control over what developers can build.

Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) document identifies at least 47 sites in the Melksham area as suitable for possible future development in.

MNPSG’s Housing Task Group has assessed these sites for suitability for development.   Their report suggests that the prime area for future housing development over the next few years is likely to be sites to the east of the town.  It also recognises that another area for some housing development is likely to occur to support the proposed Wilts and Berks Canal route.

Research by the MNPSG’s Health and Wellbeing Task Group indicates that the result of the current or pipeline housing new developments will take the projected Melksham population to around 30,600 (2021) and 34,200 (2026).  This is well in excess of Wiltshire Council’s population growth projections. Melksham

In light of these population growth estimates, the Health and Wellbeing Task Group have been assessing eight sites around the Melksham area for use for health, care, community and leisure purposes.

To meet the needs of this rapidly growing population, their report contains 14 recommendations about the sites, which included:

a) providing a building on the Health and Wellbeing Centre (Campus) site for provision of essential health facilities and to allow significant expansion of GP services;

b) ensuring that these essential services are relocated and fully operational before decision about the future of Melksham Hospital is taken, and that any income generated is used within the Melksham locality for health purposes;

c) to safeguard the site as a community asset for alternative use to provide suitable accommodation for older people in line with national policy objectives; and to extend to include the Canberra site as well if possible;

d) providing multi-purpose community centre, play area, leisure, open space and retail facilities in the plans for future development of SHLAA sites east of Melksham;

e) providing multi-purpose community centre, play area, open space and leisure facilities in future development plans to support the Wilts and Berks Canal route;

f) providing additional GP facilities towards the end of the 2026 Plan period, located away from the Spa Road, or centre of Melksham;

Both Task Groups also considered extending the new distributor road to the A350 east of Beanacre to create a Melksham Eastern Bypass. The Melksham Town and Parish Councils support using some of developer funding contributions generated from new developments from housing developments to build this by-pass.

Health and Wellbeing Task Group Lead, Nick Westbrook said, “When they considered our report at their meeting on Wednesday, MNPSG members agreed that local people should be asked what they think about our ideas to provide service to support our growing population.

“We have no option but to regretfully acknowledge professional clinical advice that the Melksham Hospital buildings are no longer ‘fit-for-purpose’ to deliver modern NHS services. Contrary to popular belief, the site belongs to the NHS.   The task now is to replace this much loved facility with quality health care to meet the future health and care needs of Melksham people.

“It is government policy to build more houses.  Petitions of protest when development plans are published simply won’t prevent applications succeeding.  More houses mean more pressure on local services.

“What we need is a comprehensive plan, backed by legislation and local people, which tells developers what they can and cannot build here in Melksham.  Local people have a voice through the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan – but silence now could lead to yet more houses later. ”