A referendum relating to the Draft Modified Purton Parish Neighbourhood Plan will be held on Thursday 21 May 2026, venues to be announced.
The question asked in the referendum will be ‘Do you want Wiltshire Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Purton to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’
It is unlikely that the current version of the Plan will be useful since Wiltshire Council does not have a housing land supply of five years or even close. Currently, it is just under three years. So the default position on planning applications is that they are likely to be approved. This is why Widham Farm and South Paven Farm applications were allowed on appeal. Wiltshire Council did not even show up at the appeals now since they know it would be fruitless, despite clearly refusing the applications.
Although the Neighbourhood Plan is unlikely to be helpful currently, as time goes by and the housing land supply nears five years then the Plan may have some traction.
Wiltshire Council has published an Information Statement to support the neighbourhood plan referendum. The Information Statement along with the ‘specified documents’ referred to in the Information Statement are available to view and download here: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-neighbourhood-latest-news
Hard copies of the documents will also be available to view at the following locations:
- PIPS Community Café, Silver Threads Hall, High St., Purton, SN5 4AS
- Parish Council Office, Station Road, Purton, Wiltshire, SN5 4AJ
- Purton Library, 1 High Street, Purton, Swindon SN5 4AA
