Thank you for raising the issue of the work being carried out behind Manton Hollow. It seems that this has raised some local interest, however your piece does little to clarify matters.
These facts may assist.
WHERE ARE THE DIGGERS
1. There are no diggers on land behind Barton Park or College Fields.
This land is not ‘earmarked ‘for development and ‘Earmarked’ is not a meaningful or helpful planning term. There are a number of current planning documents in place for Marlborough area and none of them propose development on land behind Barton Park or College Fields.
There are some diggers on land on both sides of Downs Land where a wide area has been fenced off.
2. WHAT ARE THE DIGGERS DOING?
In 2023 the Marlborough Area Neighbourhood Plan was adopted as statutory Planning policy. This plan allocated land behind the Leisure Centre for 40 houses.
Thames Water stated that water pressure was insufficient for these houses and supply and pressure would need to be increased.
In 2025 Thames Water investigated alternative routes to supply water and one of these was through land behind Barton Park and College Fields. They investigated this and Wiltshire Council were aware of archaeological remains in this area including a Roman Road forming part of the route between the Roman town at Mildenhall and Bath. Archaeologists dug about 20 deep trenches to expose the remains and provided advice to Wiltshire Council. The trenches were filled and crops planted.
Other options for a water main were then considered.
Since then it appears that a new water main is to be installed from the water plant on the A4 into the fields along Downs Lane up towards the reservoir and back into the mains by gravity. The fenced off area is wide to enable safe movement of big diggers and storage of pipes and earth arisings whilst this is done.
3. PLANNING MATTERS
Land behind Barton Park and College Fields is not in Marlborough Town Council area, it is in Preshute Parish and has been for centuries.
Neighbourhood Plan: Preshute Parish Council produced their Neighbourhood Plan which was adopted in 2023 and this contains policies protecting this area as being of National Importance as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The term AONB is not a description of a ‘nice area’ -it is a statutory designation and places the landscape quality as being the same status as a National Park.
National Policy: The most important Planning policy document which governs ALL planning in England is The National Planning Policy Framework or NPPF. Council Plans and Neighbourhood plans and decisions on planning applications must conform to the NPPF.
The NPPF is 82 pages long in 17 chapters and is a clear statement of what is acceptable and what is not. Chapter 15 ‘Conserving and Enhancing the Natural Environment’ sets out policies for land designated as AONB now termed ‘National Landscapes’ to emphasis their national importance. The policy states that these area’ have the highest status of protection’ and ‘great weight should be given to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty in AONBs’. ‘The scale and extent of development in these areas should be limited’ and ‘applications for development in these areas should be refused for major development’.
North Wessex Downs AONB was designated in 1972and includes land in many districts, parts of Wiltshire and parts of surrounding counties and all the land in and around Marlborough, including the World Heritage site on the edge of Marlborough which includes Avebury and Silbury Hill .
4. VILLAGE GREEN APPLICATION
The article in the Marlborough.news mentioned the Village Green application. All the land now occupied by Barton Park and College Green was originally owned by Marlborough College. When the land was developed an area of 4.4 acres in the centre on the highest land on the skyline was transferred by the developer to Kennet District Council. The purposes was to lay the land out and make it available and accessible as Public Open Space. Kennet District along with several other districts in Wiltshire was abolished and Wiltshire Council became the unitary council.
Wiltshire Council did not provide play areas or landscaping or paths or even a sign confirming it was POS. Its status was not clear so an application was lodged to have the land designated as a Village Green.
A public Inquiry was held and the Inspector concluded that the only reason it could not be a Village Green was because it was already Public Open Space and Wiltshire agreed.
Since then, Marlborough Town Council has designated the POS as an asset of Community Importance in their Neighbourhood Plan.
5. COUNTY STRATEGIC PLAN (CORE STRATEGY)
Wiltshire Council is the only Planning Authority in Wiltshire and it produced a strategic Plan for the county for the period 2009-2026. This sets out how much development there should be and where it should be and allocated sites for it.
None of the land behind Barton Park or College Fields was allocated.
6. NEW LOCAL PLAN FOR WILTSHIRE
Wiltshire Council has produced a replacement plan for the period 2023 -2038 and submitted this to the Government. That plan also did not allocate any development on land behind Barton Park or College Fields. But it did allocate some more land along Barton Dene beyond the Leisure Centre.
The Government appointed Inspectors to review that Plan to ensure it complied with National Policy.
Last week the Inspectors concluded that the plan was flawed and that WC should withdraw it or they would have to refuse it.
One of the main reasons it was flawed was that it did not conform to national policy in many respects including the fact that it should last 15 years at least from adoption. As the plan could not be adopted until 2026 or 2027 it would only have 11 or 12 years to run.
WC will have to prepare a new Local Plan.
In the meantime planning decisions will be based on National Policy in the NPPF as there will not be an up to date Strategic plan.
I trust this clears up some concerns of the local community.
Yours,
Ian Mellor
Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute
Marlborough
‘Water is Love’ – Important documentary about what is vital to us all – Water: one-off screening at The Parade Cinema
