Government reject blueprint for 37,000 new homes

A blueprint setting out how many houses will be built over the next 10 to 15 years has been rejected by government inspectors.

The Local Plan 2020-2038 was supposed to offer a framework for delivering nearly 37,000 houses and 160 hectares of employment land across Wiltshire before 2038.

Wiltshire Council's planning officers have been working on the proposal for almost nine years, but have now been ordered it to scrap its draft plan and start again.

Inspectors ruled the authority did not allocate enough land to meet the identified housing and affordable housing needs of the county.

They added key elements of the strategy rely on a new settlement north of Salisbury and other sites whose location, timing, and infrastructure are too uncertain.

The assessment leaves the entire process in limbo and opens the county up to speculative development, with more chance of planning appeal success for construction firms in what has been described as a "policy vacuum".

If councillors opt to withdraw the plans, they accept years of work being written off, but avoid the reputational hit of a formal "do not adopt" recommendation.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, this would condemn the plans as unsound – which developers could use against them when submitting large planning applications.

Councillor Ian Thorn, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "This is extremely disappointing given the significant work already undertaken and our willingness to address the issues raised.

"Our priority is to ensure that Wiltshire has a strong and effective planning strategy to meet the requirements for new homes and jobs for residents and to protect our natural and historic environment."

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