We are delighted to share with you that after our representations to yesterday’s Wiltshire Council Cabinet Meeting, the Ridgeway Farm Site Allocation has been removed from the Wiltshire Site Housing DPD. Whilst the final plan needs to be approved by Full Council next week, this is a really important milestone in our campaign to have our Parish’s voice heard.
The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group and the Parish Council submitted to Wiltshire an objection on the basis that:
- The is no Strategic Need for Wiltshire to allocate housing in Crudwell because supply in the Housing Market Area is good and the Wiltshire Core Strategy states that development in Large Villages should be limited to “small sites”.
- Our Neighbourhood Plan is progressing extremely well and is planning to allocate a more proportionate size development within the Parish, taking into consideration local needs and local views.
- The Council’s and Government’s Localism agenda is best served by allowing the Parish to determine its own future.
A lot of behind the scenes work has gone into getting to this stage. Cllr Berry has been working very hard to gain support from Cabinet members, however without the progress that has been made on the Neighbourhood Plan to date we wouldn’t be able to convince Wiltshire to allow us to determine our own destiny. Notably, one other Parish had their request turned down, because their Neighbourhood Plan wasn’t mature enough and did not contain the level of hard evidence we have been able to pull together.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in the Neighbourhood Plan so far, including the Focus Group leads and members, and indeed everyone who has filled in a survey or attended a meeting – it all adds up!
The Crowdfunding was instrumental in our work so far. This enabled us to appoint a consultant who has continuously provided guidance on our representations and strategy. Thank you to all of you who donated to this.
The battle doesn’t end here. We need to continue work on the Neighbourhood Plan to ensure that we meet our end of the bargain and we will continue to work at pace to achieve this.
We are also aware that a planning application has been submitted for Ridgeway Farm for an additional 39 houses, however given that it is outside of the Settlement Boundary we are confident that it will be turned down. Once the application is published on the council website, we will be in touch regarding representations.
It’s precisely a year since we started on this journey with a meeting in the Mayfield House Hotel and the launch of our Crowdfunding initiative. Thank you for your continued support!
Yours Faithfully
Sian Burke-Murphy, Chair, Crudwell NP Steering Committee
Tristan Stevens, Vice-Chair, Crudwell NP Steering Committee
Mike Credicott, Crudwell Parish Councillor