Warminster Town Council
Warminster Civic Centre
Sambourne Road
Warminster
Wiltshire
BA12 8LB
East Boreham Business and Residents Action Group
Boreham Road
Warminster
Wiltshire
16th January 2026
Extraordinary Town Council Meeting – Monday 19 January 2026
Good morning,
As a Town Councillor you are requested to attend an Extraordinary Town Council Meeting on Monday 19 January 2026, at which Members will be asked to approve the draft Neighbourhood Plan (NP) 2 for Regulation 14 public consultation.
We apologise for the timing of this letter; however, the issues raised are of critical importance to the ultimate acceptance of the Neighbourhood Plan by the residents of Warminster and warrant your urgent attention before any resolution is made.
East Boreham Business and Residents Action Group (EBBRAG) represents a rapidly growing body of residents opposed to development at Home Farm, East Warminster. At a public meeting held on Saturday 10 January 2026, 137 residents attended, with a further 20 apologies (including one from Cllr Davies). Dr Murrison, one East Ward councillor and two non-ward councillors were present and contributed constructively.
Since that meeting, EBBRAG’s database has expanded by 57 email contacts in a single day and continues to grow by an average of five new contacts per day. Engagement through social media has tripled in the past fortnight. The group’s membership now rivals the vote totals achieved by some councillors at the most recent Town Council election.
Opposition to development at Home Farm was unanimous. More broadly, there is overwhelming resistance to further speculative and planned development in Warminster in the absence of essential supporting infrastructure. In response, EBBRAG is now formally coordinating with other resident groups across the town who share these concerns.
While EBBRAG recognises and values the substantial work that has gone into the revised Neighbourhood Plan, the plan has been prepared in a context of limited community engagement, as reflected in the informal survey results. With 61% of respondents opposed to development at Home Farm, there is a clear and serious risk that inclusion of this site will lead to rejection of the Plan at referendum, potentially influencing wider voting behaviour.
The consequences of such an outcome would be significant—both financially and reputationally—for the Town Council and would undermine the considerable progress made to date.
EBBRAG firmly believes that the inclusion of Home Farm and the old Yew Tree public house is unnecessary. Warminster’s housing requirement remains relatively modest at 90 houses until 2038; the rationale for lower allocations is clearly set out in Planning for Warminster (September 2023), and housing commitments within the West Urban Extension continue to increase (for example, Cley Hill View’s 227 additional homes alongside Jubilee Gardens), with further windfall developments likely.
We therefore urge the Town Council, in the strongest but most constructive terms, to withdraw site selection from the Neighbourhood Plan review before proceeding to Regulation 14. This measured step would safeguard the integrity of the Plan and protect the extensive work already undertaken.
Removing site allocations now would also allow resident groups to focus on addressing speculative planning applications through the appropriate planning processes, rather than relying on a Neighbourhood Plan timetable that will arrive too late to prevent the applications currently emerging.
Taking this approach—consistent with the reasoning applied at Ashley Coombe, (which now faces a speculative application for 77 homes and where Westbury Road is understood to have re-emerged)—would send a clear and positive message that the Town Council is listening to its residents and is prepared to act decisively in their best interests.
Thank you.
EBBRAG