Sirs,
Manton Residents’ Association would like to remind everybody to have their say on the draft Wiltshire Local Plan for the Marlborough area. The Public consultation for this document closes on Wednesday 22nd November, so there’s not much time!
On Monday 13th November Marlborough Town Council voted against Wiltshire Council’s consultation draft of the Wiltshire Local Plan (LP). The principal point of contention focused on the major differences in the proposed new housing numbers (370) for Marlborough that Wiltshire are proposing to 2036 and the far smaller numbers (65) that the residents of Marlborough voted for earlier this year in the Marlborough Neighbourhood Plan (NP) and accepted by Wiltshire. The grossly inflated housing and an industrial area spill over into the greenfield AONB within Preshute Parish at Barton Dene (the landowner is the College). The Preshute NP was also ‘Made’ earlier this year and specifically only permits new housing under exceptional circumstances. There is a second highly contentious site at Chopping Knife Lane (again in greenfield AONB). Wiltshire Council’s LP for Marlborough is entirely different from the one we signed up to in the two recent referenda approving the NP.
Not to put too fine a point on it, this new draft Local Plan is a scandal. It is proposing to force more large scale housing on our community after more than a decade of large scale developments without any concern for the community’s care and wellbeing or the provision for improved infrastructure. And this isn’t about ‘affordable’ housing either, which is well provisioned in existing large scale building projects.
What is most disappointing is that Wiltshire have worked closely with teams from Marlborough Town and Preshute Parish Councils for many years. The results of these many hundreds of hours discussion, negotiation and labour made up the NPs we voted for and approved earlier this year. Our infrastructure is in crisis and much effort is needed to sustainably accommodate the large population increase of the past 10 years, including water, sewerage, flood prevention from over-development, medical support, traffic, leisure facilities and at primary level at least, satisfactory education.
As it stands, the draft LP is a triumph of vested landowner interest over democracy.
Have your say!
The relevant section of the draft Plan (for Marlborough Market Town, Para 4.223) can be found online at the link below and you can make your comments directly from that page:
Alternatively, if you wish to email Wiltshire Council Spatial Planning directly (the Plan’s originators), their email is: spatialplanningpolicy@wiltshire.gov.uk. When making an email response, you must use the response form attached to this email.
Have your say and help keep Marlborough and the surrounding countryside special!
Yours,
Peter Morgan,
for the Manton Residents Association