Thinking of a masterplan

You reported that, at a Wiltshire Council meeting, there were 2000 “open” planning applications and almost half had been in progress for over three months.

Well, perhaps Wiltshire planners shouldn’t be blamed for a large part of this as, in my experience, big developers are causing a lot of time wasting. I can give some recent examples to support this view.

Some readers will remember that Wiltshire Council produced a plan which identified housing development sites across the authority area. This plan included a lot of sites around Trowbridge. There is one big site between North Bradley and the White Horse Business Park.

Wiltshire Council set the number of houses at 175. To confuse the issue and exacerbate the problems that emerged, the one site was divided into three parts, each one with a different developer or owner.

At the Public Inquiry, held into the Wiltshire plan, the Planning Inspector instructed that a Masterplan had to be produced for the complete site.

To achieve a masterplan appears to be beyond the ability of the different interests. Each appears to be trying to get as much value out of their piece of land as possible. Inevitably it causes great delay.

A second example is the area around the Lambrok, off Frome Road in Trowbridge and Southwick. This time three Wiltshire sites are involved. Again, the Inquiry Inspector instructed that a Masterplan should be prepared for these three sites combined, especially in respect of their effect on the Lambrok stream.

So again, there are three developers who seem to find it impossible to work together. So there is more delay.

These big developers must take up a lot of the planning officers’ time, which means they have less time to deal with the small applications from individual householders. This is very unfair. It also wastes money. Some of that money might come from our Council Tax. In my opinion large developers should have more respect for our community .

If they really want to build houses quickly, they should stick to the conditions that they have been set by the various authorities.

I suspect that developers do not lose from delay, because house prices increase over that time.

David Feather

Broadley Park

North Bradley

Trowbridge

Strange council priorities

One wonders at the priorities which Wiltshire Council Highways work to.

We had the long-term roadworks in Hilperton Rd, which were hugely disruptive and made St Thomas Rd a dangerous rat run.

The result? About 100 yards of cycleway which expires at Stancomb Avenue. I have no objection to encouraging cycling, and I don’t know if this work was subsidised in some way, but to the average taxpayer this looks like a massive waste of money. I have barely seen a cyclist using it yet.

As an extension to the cycling scheme, Devizes Rd in Hilperton has been closed off. In contrast, what a joy this has proved to residents. Devizes Rd had also become a rat run, complicated by increasing numbers of parked cars. Is it not time Devizes Rd was permanently blocked off, perhaps at the Stourton Park roundabout? This has been mooted many times in the past.

Objections have included emergency vehicle access, which could surely be resolved by collapsible bollards.

Admittedly, those at the bottom of the road and the top would have to access their homes from opposite directions, but that would be a small price to pay for the lack of traffic.

Adrian Ayland

By email

Not even PM should be above the law

In January 1977 in the High Court Lord Denning, (described by Margaret Thatcher, as probably the greatest English judges of modern times), in a ruling against the then Attorney-General, quoted Dr Thomas Fuller who wrote in 1733 “Be you ever so high, the law is above you”.

Boris Johnson made history when he became the first prime minister to have been found to have broken the law whilst in office!

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has still claimed he did not break the law, yet he has been fined by the police, for flouting lockdown regulations put in place by his own government!

To make the matter worse, Johnson then lied to the House of Commons, saying there had not been any parties. The fine is proof of that this was a lie!

A snap YouGov poll of the 12 April - after the fines were made public - showed by 75 per cent to 12 per cent the public believed Johnson did knowingly lie about whether he broke lockdown rules.

This view was shared by 55 per cent of Conservative voters.

If a minister lies to Parliament then he must resign! Johnson bears the title “the Right Honourable”, so resigning when proven to have lied to Parliament should be a matter of personal honour.

Some have said Britain cannot change leaders with the war in Ukraine. France is actually in the process of a Presidential election at this time.

As Denning quoted “Be you ever so high, the law is above you.”

Britain cannot have a prime minister who acts as if he is above the law, and above Parliament. The Conservative Party’s failure to ditch Johnson will be welcomed by some opposition parties.

He is seen increasingly as a growing liability, who will drag the Conservative Party down with him.

Andrew Milroy

Bellefield Crescent

Trowbridge

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