More than 50 houses set to be built in Blunsdon
Planning Committee recommended to approve plans for Turnpike Road
More than 50 houses could be approved just a few hundred yards from the site of another 125 houses to be built on the edge of Swindon.
The borough council’s planning committee will meet next week to consider a proposal to build 55 houses on land just off Turnpike Road to the south of number 12, with another housing development to the south, just north of the junction with Kingsdown Lane.
The application, for outline permission only, by Bellway Homes says: “It is a high-quality design with new homes to be from Bellway’s Artisan housing range.
“Delivery of market and affordable homes in a sustainable location alongside the provision of new open space and children’s play area will promote healthy, safe and inclusive communities.
“The natural, built and historic environments have been respected as part of the proposals, and directing development to a sustainable location such as this will help to reduce the need to travel by car.”
The application adds that the trees and hedges surrounding the site will be kept and an illustrative plan shows the access would be from the north of the site.
Houses could be concentrated in rows largely in the centre and northern and southern ends of the site, leaving gardens and green spaces to screen the houses from the road.
A playground for young children is also mentioned, and the application promises 30 per cent of the homes would be affordable housing.
Blunsdon Parish Council objected to the proposals on the grounds of traffic and parking issues and highway safety on the relatively narrow Turnpike Road, as well as the impact on services in Blunsdon such as schools and doctors and asked the plan to be put before the planning committee.
It has taken five years since the original application submission to get to this point as National Highways was concerned about the impact on the A419.
The committee will meet at 6pm on Tuesday, October 14.
Even if the plan is approved as it is in outline only, another full application setting out the layout and design of the houses and any landscaping will have to be submitted and approved.
Blunsdon is seeing increasing numbers of houses being proposed and approved in and around the village.
In September, the borough council’s planning committee approved a proposal for 125 houses further south on Turnpike Road, and another one for 100 houses off Sams Lane in the centre of the village.