South Pavenhill Farm – next steps

The situation is that Wiltshire Council cannot currently demonstrate a five-year supply of available land for housing development, which means that the Council cannot defend a residential planning application such as this appeal just using the argument that it lies outside the current settlement boundary. There has to be other substantive reasons to object to the appeal proposal.

In light of this situation, and the findings of the recent Appeal decision on land off Storridge Road, Westbury, BA13 4HJ, LPA Ref: PL/2022/09842, the Council has decided not to defend its reasons for refusal on a number of appeals across the County where the reason for refusal related mainly to the fact that the application site lay outside of the existing settlement boundaries and was therefore not planned development. These are sites where there are no other substantial planning reasons for refusal, for example on highway or ecological grounds. This applied to Widham Farm. It was not contested by the Council and the Inspector upheld the appeal.

As there were no other substantial planning reasons for refusal of South Pavenhill, the Council is not going to defend the reason for refusal of this appeal. So it is down to third parties (basically the public, and the Purton Parish Council if it is so minded).

Despite the 250+ objections already lodged, it will come down to facing down the developer and their experts, point by point. This can be quite daunting and I am proposing to have a meeting at PIPS (late January/early February) for those who would like to speak and need more information about the process and some tricks and tips. The Appeal itself begins on 11 February in Chippenham.

If you are available and interested to speak on 11 February, and would like to attend the PIPS Briefing, please email me at secure@richardpagett.com.

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