Times News

It’s your county – so have your say

By Mike Wilkinson

2:00pm Sunday 29th January 2012

WILTSHIRE people have one last chance to speak up about the future of all developments in the county at a meeting next month.

The meeting on February 7 is the start of a six-week consultation on Wiltshire’s Core Strategy, the document which tells developers where they can and cannot develop between now and 2026.

After consultation it will be sent to the Government and, if approved, could change the face of west Wiltshire towns forever.

The plan includes the construction of 37,000 new homes, half of which have already been built since council officers first started work on the strategy. There are also designated areas for new employment land.

The meeting will take place at 10.30am at the Trowbridge Civic Centre.

Wiltshire councillors will gather to discuss the plan before officially approving the consultation exercise.

Rural campaigners, made up of 25 local groups, are outraged by the latest document and have set up their own meeting to discuss the fate of Wiltshire’s towns and villages.

It will be held on January 31 at 7.30pm at the Melksham Baptist Church Hall, Old Broughton Road.

Ken McCall, of Campaign for A Better Trowbridge, said: “This is our chance to at least try and stop this nonsensical building of houses on our green fields and we invite as many people as possible to come and have their say.

“All too often people don’t speak up but this really is our last chance before the Core Strategy is rubber-stamped and set in stone.”

A dossier, prepared by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England’s West Wiltshire branch, has slammed the council’s land allocation plans for housing and employment in the Trowbridge district.

Chairman George McDonic said: “We and others raised a number of objections to the original document. We are disappointed that the new document has not taken account of them.”

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