By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison
Plans to add 275 houses to a proposed 500-home estate on farmland in east Melksham have been revealed.
Land promotion firm Gleeson Land is asking Wiltshire Council for permission to build the homes on land east of Blackmore Farm.
Gleeson Land is not a developer and, if it wins planning permission, it will sell the land to a builder.
The 27-hectare site is 2.5km from the town centre and is next to a site that was granted outline planning consent for 500 houses in May 2025.
Gleeson Land says 30 per cent of the houses – 83 units – would be designated ‘affordable’.
Vehicular access to the development would be via a new T junction from Sandridge Common.
The applicant describes the proposed development as a “landscape-led scheme” in which 70 per cent of the land will be green space.
The application includes proposals for public open space – an extension to Clackers Valley Park and a new eastern green corridor linking the park to a nearby bridleway – along with two separate parks and new play areas.
Also proposed are ‘woodland belts’ around some of the boundaries of the development, and plans to mitigate against the loss of habitats for bats, swifts, and hedgehogs.
Three veteran oak trees on the proposed development site would be retained.
While the farmland is not designated for housing, the applicant points out that Wiltshire Council is unable to meet its current housebuilding target and has no Local Plan after government inspectors advised the authority to rewrite it.
Wiltshire councillor Nick Holder has expressed concerns about the government’s rejection of the Local Plan, telling residents of the Bowerhill ward, “Since the local plan was rejected, we have seen developers bringing forward even more sites for housing in our area and so far, we have seen proposals for another three developments which could add over 600 more houses to the previous number.
“Melksham has seen huge growth in homes, but we cannot be an easy target for developers looking to cash in on these new (housing) targets.”
The applicant says a public consultation exercise was conducted in February and March this year, with leaflets being posted to 593 addresses around the site.
The company says it received 43 responses. Concerns about extra traffic, harm to the character of the area, the proximity of new houses to existing homes, flood risk, and pressure on schools and health services were raised by respondents.
Members of the public have until 26th June to comment on the application by visiting https://development.wiltshire.gov.uk/pr/s/ and using the application code PL/2026/02966
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