Land off Woodrow Road, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 7AY

Outline application with all matters reserved except for access for the development of up to 70 dwellings, open space, ecological enhancements, play space, associated infrastructure (including drainage structures and works to the public highway), access, parking, servicing and landscaping

Authority: Wiltshire Council
Appeal type: major · Planning Appeal
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: residential · Major dwellings
Inspector: Baugh-Jones H

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

Whether the proposal accords with development plan policies for the location of development including its effects on the character and appearance of the area.

What decided it

The acute, county-wide 2.42-year housing land supply shortfall rendered the most important development plan policies out of date and triggered the tilted balance, under which the substantial housing and other benefits outweighed the limited spatial policy harm.

The very substantial weight given to market and affordable housing, together with significant economic and landscape/biodiversity benefits, outweighed the limited weight attached to conflict with the development plan's spatial strategy, tipping the balance in favour of allowing the appeal.

Framework references: 11, 14, 58, 66, 69, 85, 105

Plan policies cited: Policy CP1, Policy CP2, Policy CP15, JMNP2 Policy 6, Policy CP16, Policy CP53, Policy 51, Policy CP45, Policy CP3, Policy CP52, Policy CP57, Policy 17

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.