The planning Committee of Marlborough Town Council has voted to support a letter to Wiltshire Council requesting that the Marlborough Area Neighbourhood Plan (MANP) Steering Group and the Town Council will be involved in preparing a ‘Development Brief’ for the St Peter’s School site.
The letter was the idea of the MANP Steering Group and follows its housing needs survey.
St Peter’s school – described as an iconic building in the town’s history and “A most handsome building” – is now empty as the junior section of Marlborough St Mary’s Primary School prepares to move into the new school buildings for their September opening.
The site is owned by Wiltshire Council and a ‘Development Brief’ becomes legally binding on any developer who buys the site.
The Town Mayor, Councillor Mervyn Hall, who has been leading the MANP group, told the committee (August 7) that this “Could go someway towards [the site] meeting the needs of the town as regards issues such as affordable housing and expanded parking.”
At previous meetings of the committee councillors have expressed fears that such developments provide high-end accommodation that is unaffordable to Marlborough’s young people and aimed at weekenders and College parents.
Immediately after the committee’s vote, the Town Mayor signed the letter to Wiltshire Council. A previous request to Wiltshire Council by the Town Council to be involved in planning decisions for the St Peter’s site was rejected out of hand.
However, now that the MANP have collected sound evidence of the housing needs of the town and the Neighbourhood Plan is coming closer to completion, it can be expected that Wiltshire Council will take heed of this new request.