Marlborough Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson, Chairman of the Town Council’s planning committee, has made a statement to the Council on the latest position in the controversy over the apparent lack of a new hotel for Marlborough in plans for the Salisbury Road housing development.
As Marlborough News Online reported, the hotel is not mentioned in Wiltshire’s Core Strategy plans for Marlborough. At recent public hearings into the strategy the inclusion of a hotel appeared to be ruled out.
Unitary Councillor Nick Fogg – in whose ward the new development will be – has protested that the Town Council were not told about the hearings nor invited to them.
The need for a new hotel for Marlborough arose when Wiltshire Council agreed to the Ivy House Hotel becoming a boarding house for Marlborough College students.
We publish below Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson’s statement in full:
Just a short announcement to up-date Councillors on a concern arising from the Hearing in Public into Wiltshire Councils Core Strategy.
As you may have heard the Crown Estates proposal for 220 houses in Salisbury Road was put forward and accepted in the Draft Strategy, but apparently there was no mention of the hotel that the Town Council was keen to promote as part of the Crown Estates proposal for this site.
Following local press reports the Town Clerk called an impromptu meeting with Al Halligan, the representative of the Crown Estates, which was attended by both our Unitary Councillors, the Mayor and myself. We were all very concerned that the need for a hotel had been left out of the Core Strategy and mystified that the Town Council was not invited to the hearing.
Apparently because the Town Council felt happy with what was proposed in the Core Strategy and so did not make any representations against the Core Strategy, we were not invited or reminded that the Meeting in Public was happening.
Al Halligan was as surprised and as disappointed as ourselves and promised to take it up at his end.
In the meantime I understand that our two Unitary Councillors are meeting with the Officer responsible for the Core Strategy next week to discuss our concerns over this serious omission from the Strategy.
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