After a two-year battle by a number of community groups, councillors, residents and the local MP, Persimmon Homes has won, on appeal, the right to build 73 houses close to the park on land just off from Hook Street. It seems that developers are just trampling the concerns of local residents and their elected representatives wherever one looks. Swindon Borough Council had refused the planning application, so it now seems that it is just developers who are dictating the future shape of Swindon.
Not surprisingly,
this appeal decision has sparked concerns that more developers will target nearby land and try to submit planning applications before the ink is dry on the Swindon Core Strategy (which steers where future housing should go).
This is a similar tactic to the one we are experiencing in Purton with Widham Farm.
I also hear that Persimmon Homes, following their exhibition in the village hall in August, has now submitted its application for Restrop Road, also outside the settlement boundary ~ more on this in due course.
