MELKSHAM Without Parish Council has welcomed government changes to its National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which were announced at the end of last year.
As a result, the parish council is asking Wiltshire Council to consider new comments in opposition to two planning applications for large developments in the east of Melksham. The plans for hundreds of houses at Blackmore Farm near Sandridge Common and land south of Snarlton Farm, are both currently out for consultation.
Before the government changes, the parish council joined other local councils in criticising the increase of speculative housing developments being agreed. Local MP, Michelle Donelan, also criticised speculative housing developments taking place in Melksham, saying developers are “exploiting loopholes in the system to build houses wherever they want.”
One of the reasons that plans were approved were because Wiltshire Council could not demonstrate that it had a five-year supply of land for housing. Now, under the government changes, the council, which also has a Local Plan in place, will have to show that it has four years’ supply of land instead.
Also, the planning policy changes recognise where communities have neighbourhood plans in place, which contain policies and allocations to meet that area’s housing requirement. Melksham Without Parish Council (MWPC) and Melksham Town Council have worked together to produce such a Neighbourhood Plan. New guidance to local councils says that “speculative housing planning applications are less likely to be recommended for approval where there is conflict with the neighbourhood plan.”
Chair of MWPC’s planning committee, cllr Richard Wood, explained, “We are very keen to make sure that any development is appropriate, plan led and therefore brings forward the right infrastructure. The new legislation restores the weight of the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan and means that Wiltshire Council only need to have a four-year land supply in place, thus tilting the decision-making process back in favour of the local plans.”
Melksham Town Council confirmed that there are no plans for the council to put forward any new comments on planning applications in response to the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
