The residents of a Wiltshire village near Devizes have said they are “delighted” by the council's decision to refuse plans to demolish garage buildings to make way for new homes.

The Urchfont community showed up in force at the planning meeting on Thursday, November 21,  and convinced the committee to oppose the plans at Urchfont Garage.

Local resident Neil Jones described it as a “victory for the community” whilst the applicant, Gaiger Brothers, expressed disappointment at the decision to overturn “a clear officer recommendation to grant permission”.

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Heritage assets and conservation area boundary.Heritage assets and conservation area boundary. (Image: Wiltshire Council) The plans would have involved the demolition of existing buildings on the site and the construction of five new homes.

Although the site appeared on the Urchfont Neighbourhood Plan, a crowd of residents attended the meeting to argue that the plan no longer represents the views of the community.

Reacting to the decision, Neil Jones said: “It’s a victory for the community and highlights that policy can very quickly be out of date and out of touch with those it is supposed to serve. 

“The current Urchfont Neighbourhood Plan is now recognised as out of date and no longer represents the views of the residents. 

“As such it should not be used to grant a right for developers to build.

“It’s clear that planning policy needs to be addressed more broadly as the jobs at risk by this development proposal were not adequately protected.”

He added: “We hope that Gaigers take notice of the overwhelming voice of Urchfont’s residents and do not appeal the decision.

“We look forward to continuing to support Urchfont Garage as it goes from strength to strength, serving the local community and beyond for generations to come.”

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Cllr Philip Whitehead said: “Circumstances materially change over time and can leave plans and policy hopelessly out of date and out of touch with the community they are supposed to serve.

“It is good that fellow councillors listened to the arguments put to them by myself and Urchfont residents, and made the correct decision to safeguard Urchfont Garage.

“We should be protecting rural employment across the whole of Wiltshire and if the policies need to be changed to do this then that is the next step we should take.”

A Gaiger Brothers spokesperson responded: “We are disappointed by the decision at planning committee to refuse the application, overturning a clear officer recommendation to grant permission.

“This officer recommendation was on the basis that our proposal is fully in accordance with local and national planning policy.

“We now await the publication of the application Decision Notice setting out the reasons for refusal and will consider our options in due course.

“We do recognise the opposition to the scheme as demonstrated by those in attendance at committee and the submitted written objections.

“However, this opposition is principally regarding the site’s proposed change of use to housing, the decision to allocate this site for housing was made during the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan – a formal planning document prepared by the local community and approved by a clear majority vote taken across the local community in 2017.

“This housing allocation should not be selectively removed without being subject to the full scrutiny and process required to alter a formally recognised development plan document.

“At no stage since the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan in 2017 has the parish council informed the landowner that they do not agree or support this housing proposal.

“It is also unfortunate that the parish council chose not to engage with the applicant at the pre-application stage to make clear their objection to the housing allocation set out in their Neighbourhood Plan.

“We fully respect that this process is unsettling for the existing tenant and will continue to maintain clear and consistent communications with them going forward.”