Warminster Town Council Neighbourhood Plan 2 Confirmation

Several important milestones are about to be reached affecting planning and development in Warminster.

a. The first is the ratification of the rewritten Town Neighbourhood Plan 2 (NP2), by the Town Council, at a general Council meeting on 28 Sept 26. There are areas of the NP2 that are not correct or need tweaking and therefore if you feel strongly about this issue, you should submit a letter to the TC before the 28 Sept 26, attend the meeting in the Civic Centre (TBC) and raise your objection verbally. Below are some issues that you may find useful – you can of course raises your own objections/thoughts as you see fit. 

This current news item covers some thoughts on the NP2 ratification by the Town Council so as not to confuse. Please see our other news item on the Wiltshire Local Plan rewrite Scoping Consultation with more detail on that matter.

NP2 — Points to consider raising with Warminster Town Council (WTC) In letter or verbally at the meeting on 28 Sept 26

The revised NP2 is now being considered without housing site allocations following the consultation response, with Home Farm having been the principal focus of objection.

1. Home Farm — retain the EBBRAG position

• Support removal of the Home Farm allocation.
• Make clear that EBBRAG does not seek reinstatement.
• Record the substantive reasons for opposing Home Farm, rather than allowing removal simply to become a conclusion that no further site-selection work is required.
• In particular, retain the evidence concerning:
  • landscape and visual impact;
  • heritage setting and archaeology;
  • flooding and drainage;
  • River Wylye / River Avon SAC nutrient issues;
  • cumulative development impacts;
  • infrastructure capacity.
• Ask that the evidence already assembled against Home Farm remains part of the NP2 evidence base even though the allocation is removed.

2. Removal of ALL allocations

• Ask the Town Council to distinguish between:
  “Home Farm should be removed” and “there should be no allocations in NP2.”
• Ask what new evidence supports the latter conclusion.
• The Council’s own earlier material said that an up-to-date neighbourhood plan provides the community with greater ability to influence where development occurs and how it is designed.
• Ask whether removing all allocations risks moving from plan-led site selection to development-by-development responses.

3. Yew Tree

• Ask for a specific explanation of why Yew Tree has been removed.
• Distinguish its evidence from the objections to Home Farm.
• Ask whether the decision reflects:
  • site-specific planning evidence;
  • housing-need evidence;
  • environmental constraints; or
  • simply the decision to remove the allocation strategy as a whole.
• If there is no substantive site-specific reason, ask why it has not been retained for further consideration.

4. Former Warminster School Preparatory Site

• Ask why the former Prep School site is not being incorporated into the NP2 evidence/site-selection exercise.
• The current evidence identifies it as an approximately 51-dwelling potential brownfield opportunity.
• Ask whether excluding it means the town is giving up an opportunity to establish locally derived principles for its future redevelopment.
• Stress that this is not an argument for 51 houses but an opportunity for a Town led allocation.
• The Town Council can still comment on a future application, but without an NP2 framework, it would be reacting to a developer’s proposal rather than having first established a proactive local framework.

5. The 42 subsequent approvals/consents

Ask the Council to update the housing/site-selection evidence to reflect the 42 dwellings subsequently approved or consented:

• Masons Arms — 8
• John Barleycorn — 10
• 3 High Street — 11
• 1 Copheap Lane — 4
• Brick Hill Farm — 9

Total: 42

The question is not simply whether these homes count towards housing supply. They potentially change the residual need and the justification for particular allocations.

6. Housing evidence

• Ask whether the housing requirement and residual requirement have been recalculated using the most current information.
• Include:
  • WWUE development;
  • Jubilee Gardens permissions;
  • other WLP allocations;
  • subsequent permissions;
  • current applications;
  • potential brownfield sites.
• Ensure that permissions and completions are not double-counted.

7. Phosphate / nutrient neutrality

• Ask that NP2’s environmental evidence reflects the changed availability of nutrient mitigation credits.
• But also ask whether the Council has demonstrated that the mitigation is geographically and hydrologically appropriate to Warminster.
• Particularly consider Warminster’s position near the headwaters of the Wylye.
• Do not simply say “credits solve phosphate” or “credits cannot solve phosphate”.
• Ask for the evidence demonstrating how the mitigation works for Warminster.

8. Town-wide Level 2 SFRA / cumulative flood risk

• Ask whether NP2’s environmental evidence adequately reflects the cumulative development trajectory.
• Distinguish the 2025 allocation-led Level 2 SFRA from the unresolved question of town-wide strategic flood-risk evidence.
• Ask how the NP2 evidence deals with:
  • fluvial flooding;
  • surface water;
  • groundwater;
  • drainage;
  • cumulative runoff;
  • climate change;
  • interaction between developments.

9. Landscape and heritage

Particularly given EBBRAG’s Home Farm work:

• Ensure the landscape evidence is not reduced to a site-specific objection which disappears when the allocation disappears.
• Ask whether the NP2 landscape strategy adequately identifies:
  • important views;
  • landscape character;
  • settlement edges;
  • visual sensitivity;
  • heritage setting.
• Check that archaeology and heritage evidence is reflected in policies rather than merely recorded in background evidence.
• Consider whether the Prep School site requires specific heritage principles.

10. Infrastructure

Ask whether NP2’s infrastructure evidence has been updated to reflect the actual development trajectory, including:

• GP/primary healthcare capacity;
• schools;
• roads;
• walking and cycling;
• drainage;
• wastewater;
• community facilities;
• open space.

11. Local Green Space / green infrastructure

• Check that all locally important spaces identified through the consultation have been properly considered.
• Ensure the Green and Blue Infrastructure strategy is sufficiently connected to development management.
• Ask whether important landscape corridors and ecological connections around the town need stronger protection.

12. The overarching NP2 question

Ask the Town Council:

If the revised NP2 is removing all housing allocations, what evidence demonstrates that this is now the most appropriate plan-led strategy for Warminster, rather than simply the consequence of the public response to Home Farm?

That is probably the single most important question to put on the Town Council NP2 response.

Any confusion or questions please don’t hesitate to contact Info@ebbrag.com

Regards Administrator