Our EBBRAG Newsletter series whilst we wait for the Warminster Town Council Neighbourhood Plan consultation response.

Over the course of the last twelve months, EBBRAG has attempted to give a voice to all residents of Warminster who are opposed to the allocation of Home Farm as a site for development within the proposed Draft Neighbourhood Plan, as well as alerting the local community to the sheer scale of house building being proposed for our town.

During this time, we have worked hard to engage with the Town Council and tried to provide them with a detailed technical challenge to the framework and processes underpinning their selection of the Home Farm site.

The response from the Town Council’s Public Consultation Survey appears to have been extremely low. Three days prior to the end of the consultation period, they were in receipt of 175 returns, which represents less than 1% of the local population. A significant number of these completed surveys will have been in opposition to the allocation of Home Farm.

In support of our position, EBBRAG submitted over 600 signed expressions of concern and opposition to the Town Council regarding the selection of this site. Even accounting for a potential last-minute flurry of responses to their consultation in the run up to the final deadline, this level of opposition represents a clear lack of mandate for the inclusion of Home Farm in site selection.

There is no fixed period of deliberation for the council, but a period of 8-10 weeks is not uncommon for analysis and consideration of responses following a public consultation. As far as the council is concerned, the allocation of a site such as Home Farm is most at risk in terms of its continued inclusion, if community objections are focused, repetitive, evidence based or they highlight critical gaps in evidence provided by the Town Council to support their decision-making the end of the consultation and deliberation, the Town Council have three options:

1. They can ignore the scale and depth of the evidence-based opposition to the selection of this site and progress it through to the next stage – Regulation 15/16 – which involves Wiltshire County Council. At this point all of the evidence EBBRAG has amassed would be presented again.
2. They can revise their evidence base and make material changes to their allocation of the Home Farm site, with additional conditions/mitigations in relation to any development.
3. They can remove the allocation of Home Farm from the Draft Neighbourhood Plan. P.

Practical thresholds based on ‘real’ neighbourhood plans in similar sized settlements to Warminster have resulted in the following outcomes:

• Likely removal of allocated site – 200-400 strong, consistent objections backed up by technical concerns and statutory warnings.
• Modification zone – 100-300 objections. Likely outcome – allocation of housing numbers reduced and stricter, binding conditions imposed, together with reduction of site size
• Retention of allocated site zone – circa 100 objections with weak or varied concerns.

Needless to say, we feel that thanks to the support of residents of Warminster, the Town Council must consider the removal of Home Farm as a site allocation within the Draft Neighbourhood Plan.