AN application to build 108 affordable homes on land west of Semington Road, opposite the entrance to the Melksham Mobile Home Park, has received a mixed reaction from Melksham Town Council.
The council has welcomed the developers’ plans to bring more social housing and shared equity homes to the area, which they say are ‘desperately needed’. But councillors have criticised the developers for not addressing any of the concerns raised from their first application, which was refused in May last year.
The proposed site for the development falls within the boundaries of Melksham Without Parish Council. Last year, the parish council objected to the development for a number of reasons including; the site being inaccessible to town, safety concerns regarding how children would get to school and the impact it could have on the possible development of the Wilts and Berks canal link.
The parish council will now discuss the revised application on 2nd July.
Town cllr Mike Sankey said, “When you look at the application you think, ‘100% affordable housing – that’s a good idea’ – but this site had a previous application from the same agent which was refused.
“All objections of Melksham Without still stand, but none of the issues have been resolved by this new application.”
Mayor of Melksham, town councillor Adrienne Westbrook added, “When you first see it, it is 108 houses with social housing or shared equity, which quite honestly we are desperate for.
“When you look into it, 108 houses, the majority of people living there will be young people with children – there’s no education provision, there’s no safe walking route to Aloeric School, which is the nearest primary school, and that’s absolutely vital. They’ve tried to use this carrot of social housing,”
Deputy mayor, cllr Jon Hubbard said, “We’ve got to be careful about turning down people who want to build affordable homes in our communities, and then complaining about people not wanting to build affordable homes. But I accept that what this is, is a developer trying to have a second bite of the cherry, with something that would be more socially acceptable than what they had the first time.
“If we object to this, we have to say, where else are they going to build this, because we need 108 shared equity, affordable homes.
The town council agreed to welcome the application, but also put forward the same list of concerns raised by Melksham Without Parish Council during the previous application.
Melksham Without Parish Council will discuss the application at their meeting on Monday 2nd July.
To view the application visit the Wiltshire Council Planning website using the reference 18/04650.
