Charity says Wiltshire is over building houses leading to a “needless loss of countryside”
CPRE say the local plan seriously over-estimates the number of houses needed
Wiltshire Council is building more houses than needed, official figures show.
Countryside charity CPRE is currently preparing to submit evidence to show the number of houses proposed under the Wiltshire Local Plan is a serious over-estimation.
According to analysis of the Housing Delivery Test (2020) by the Wiltshire branch of the charity, Wiltshire as a whole has delivered 140 per cent of its target.
It says that between 2017/18 and 2019/20 Wiltshire built 40 per cent more houses than was required of it.
During this period, the report says Wiltshire was required to built of 5,506 new homes but constructed 7,720.
CPRE Wiltshire Chair Anne Henshaw says:
“The latest government figures vindicate what we have been saying for years – we have been building too many new homes here in Wiltshire, the majority of them on greenfield land, and there is no evidence that this number of homes is needed.
“Looking ahead, we have commissioned a report on Wiltshire Council’s housing requirement figures for the Plan period 2016 – 2036, currently under public consultation.
“This report will be submitted with our full consultation responses. On the strength of this study, we believe there is compelling evidence for the overall reduction of housing allocations across Wiltshire.”
Under the proposed Local Plan for 2016-2036 there are 1,635 homes planned for Amesbury and 5,240 in Salisbury.
Residents have until March 9th to comment on the Wiltshire Local Plan, which you can do so here.
Wiltshire Council responds
Cabinet member for spatial planning, Toby Sturgis said:
“Wiltshire has housing targets to meet and the government’s measure of meeting housing requirements is the Housing Delivery Test. Performance varies from year to year, but over the last three years we have exceeded the average required.
"It is important that we continue to meet the government’s targets as failure to meet them has consequences according to government rules that are set out in national planning policy, that might result in greater freedoms for house building in the county.
“The consultation we are currently undertaking is looking ahead to 2036 and is based upon evidence of housing need over the next local plan period based on a standard method given to all councils by government. The government expects all local planning authorities to maintain an up-to-date local plan based upon evidence.
“In this consultation we are asking the community of Wiltshire to review the evidence we have prepared and to comment on the overall housing requirement and proposed distribution. This will no doubt result in a variety of views including those suggesting lower and higher numbers of new homes. The comments will help shape the draft local plan which is scheduled for publication later this year.”