Gap between Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon to close after 400 homes approved

The gap between Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon is to close after councillors gave the green light for the eastward expansion of the market town.

At a meeting of Wiltshire Council’s strategic planning committee today (Tuesday, July 29) councillors approved an application by David Wilson Homes to build up to 410 houses on agricultural land at Upper Woodshaw.

The 27 hectare site is under a mile and a half from Junction 16 of the M4, off the A3102 behind Sally Pussey’s Inn, and over a mile from the centre of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Developer David Wilson Homes was seeking outline planning permission – meaning approval of the broad concept.

The planning application met numerous objections from the town council and 418 letters of objection from residents had been received – many expressing concern over the coalescence of the market town and Swindon.

Katherine Jones, from the developer’s agent Carter Jonas, said the new development would “help to address Wiltshire’s housing shortfall with 410 new homes, secure £3.4 million in community benefits including land for a nursery school, deliver a walkable neighbourhood, and provide new open spaces and play areas.”

Sian Keeling, development director at David Wilson Homes, said 98 of the houses would be for affordable rent, 41 would be reserved for first-time buyers, and 25 would be offered in shared ownership.

The developer said the houses would typically be two-storeys tall, with some standing at two-and-a-half storeys.

However, claims that the development would be geared towards cycling and walking were met with credulity by some councillors, after hearing that the nearest primary school, secondary school, and supermarket were all between 25 and 35 minutes’ walk away.

It then emerged that the developers had committed to buy each household two Stagecoach MegaRiders bus passes each for a period of six months, at a cost of £410,000, to encourage the new residents to use public transport – an idea that seemed to have originated with the council’s own transport department.

At the closing stages of the debate, the developer was encouraged to invest the money into existing public transport provision instead.

In a final bid to get the application rejected, ward councillor Andrew Matthews (Liberal Democrat Royal Wootton Bassett East) described the development as a “speculative, car-dependent development in open countryside, disconnected from the town centre” which would cause “significant increase traffic on a road that is already congested at peak times.”

He added that the houses would be built on “part of the rural buffer separating the town from Swindon – something that residents feel very strongly about.”

But despite the protestations – and because of the shortfall in Wiltshire’s housing land allocation – permission was granted.