Police station housing scheme given go-ahead
Development of 17 new homes can now begin
Plans to build 17 homes on the site of a former police station have been given the go-ahead.
Developer Woodsome Estates sought permission to expand an existing eight-home scheme on Wood Lane in Chippenham with a further nine houses.
However, in January last year, Wiltshire Council rejected the planning application, with councillors citing concerns over design, sustainability and environmental impact.
The council called the planned site layout for the additional nine homes “cramped and contrived” and said it failed to “promote active travel.”
Concerns were also raised over rear gardens not meeting size requirements and allocated parking being too far from homes.
The council also described the plans as having “poor sustainability credentials.”
Woodsome Estates appealed against the council’s decision, and this week a planning inspector ruled the development could go ahead.
Inspector Hollie Nicholls conceded: “There are some aspects of the scheme, such as the tree losses and some design shortcomings which raise conflict with certain policies or parts of policies of the (council’s) development plan,” but added: “Even taken collectively, they do not amount to a conflict with the development plan when taken as a whole.”
She allowed the appeal, saying “the scheme (will) deliver clear public benefits through the provision of 17 dwellings, including seven affordable, on a sustainably located brownfield site”.
She also ordered Wiltshire Council to pay the developer’s appeal costs.