A referendum relating to the Draft Modified Purton Parish Neighbourhood Plan will be held on Thursday 21 May 2026. Venues are to be announced nearer the date.
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?‘
With the housing land supply being less than 3 years currently, when it needs to be 5 years or above, the current Plan will have little value. This was seen at the recent Widham Farm and South Paven Farm appeals when Wiltshire Council did not even turn up to defend their refusals. This was because the Council judged that the lack of an adequate housing land supply would outweigh all arguments.
Although this current version of the Neighbourhood Plan will have a similar lack of weight when faced with the current lack of housing land supply, there is a slight chance that it may have more weight in the future.
So, on the whole, votes FOR the Neighbourhood Plan may be beneficial in the future.
Maybe…
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, in due course, 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