York Place – Aster’s planned development in St Martins – what’s happening?

The original application (PL/2023/03305) was submitted three years ago in April 2023. The decision to approve was made at a meeting of the Eastern Area Planning Committee of Wiltshire Council on 21 March 2024, and the final notice of approval, the decision document was sent on 16 April 2025. Once the decision notice to approve has been given there is then a three year window for work to start, which means – at an extreme – the work has to be commenced by April 2028. If not, it’s ‘start again’.

We’ve asked Aster and they have given us the following statement:

“Since planning permission was granted a year ago for the redevelopment of York Place, we’ve been undertaking technical work to prepare the site. During this process, issues with capacity in the local electricity network were identified, meaning that a small new electricity substation is required on site. We have been working with our technical consultants to address this.
“To accommodate the substation, minor internal changes, and small alterations to the front of one of the buildings are required, and updated plans have been submitted to the council. The scheme will continue to deliver 28 new affordable homes, with no loss of parking. Alongside this, work is ongoing with the associated listed building consent, supported by specialist advice.
“We recognise the continuing housing crisis and the importance of us and other providers delivering affordable homes for Marlborough. While these additional steps have taken time, we are doing all we can to resolve the matters and move the scheme forward, and we are keen to begin building as soon as possible.”

Why does this matter? Quite simply, all residents in the area around St Martins need to be able to get on with their lives. The disruption that will be caused by the actual redevelopment process – demolition and construction – and the ensuing issues regarding parking that will inevitably follow mean that no-one there can plan as this will create major upheaval in many different respects.

Apart from these disruptive phases which won’t be quick, the already severe parking issues that are affecting this area will get worse. During the working phase, movement of lorries and equipment will inevitably create issues for parking during the daytime working hours. Few of the former residents of York Place had cars. The type of units being developed is likely to attract one or two cars groups, and even if it were just one car per unit the likely number of parking spaces needed will exceed 30, but only fifteen spaces will be created. Hence once the build is complete and all units sold there will likely be a dozen or so more cars looking to park in this area. Where? St Martins, The Green, Blowhorn St, Lower Prospect, Rawlinswell – all places where space is already at a premium.

The current issues surrounding the nearby Lower Prospect and the request for Residents Parking Zone to be created will become exacerbated. Bad now, but a crisis waiting to happen in (not too many) years to come.

The answer – if that is the right and most appropriate word will be for wider (and more) Residents Parking Zones. But as we have already seen with the Lower Prospect application, all such requests have to go through LHFIG, and this opaque committee has a waiting period of two years before an application is even looked at or considered. Then likely more years for discussion (Lower Prospect is three years in the process at present with no end in sight). Putting this all together as a timeline (start / demolition / construction / property sales / new residents moving in / Parking Zone application) and it is quite possible that parking problems in this wider area won’t be ‘resolved’ by introduction of Residents Parking Zones for maybe another decade – or mid-2030s. That’s a long time, far too long for local residents to have to endure not being able to park, properly, and somewhere near to where they live.

We need to have some idea as t what will be happening, and when so residents can prepare and start to address some of the issues that will arise, the earlier that can happen the better for all affected. And, when any requests / proposals are ‘sent’ to LHFIG (Local Highways and Footways Improvement Group), they are addressed immediately.