The proposed building of 220+ homes on the sole remaining field between Salisbury's urban expansion and Britford village will have serious and disproportionately harmful effects.

This one field does surprisingly great service to the people of Salisbury today and to future generations. It protects the borders of no fewer than FIVE (5) designated or special areas:

1 The conservation area of the Salisbury water-meadows to the north

2 A site of special scientific interest also to the north

3 The conservation area of Britford to the east, one of the few villages not yet subsumed into a suburb and a uniquely pretty place on the edge of our famous water-meadows

4 A wide Area of Archaeological Potential (AAP) (to the east), being the site of a settlement of considerable importance just before the Norman conquest and of an Anglo-Saxon Royal Manor.

5 One of our famous views across the fields to the spire, welcoming visitors to Salisbury who approach along the A338 from Bournemouth to the south.

Everyone knows that once urban suburbs touch the edge of villages, there will be future infill. This will mean the loss forever of the heritage village of Britford. It will be swallowed up as a suburb.

JUST THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES!

220 houses and counting  = 300+ cars to add to the congestion on Downton Road at all times. (average was 1.46 cars per household in our area).

The increased flooding (nonsense to call it a ‘risk’, it’s a very terrible 'fact') for the existing houses in Britford village which are just very slightly lower than the new ones will be. It would be madness (or just greed) to consider the needs of the existing house-holders less important than those of the new settlers. 

There will be sewage problems for the same reason - the sewage works is at the same level as Britford….on the water meadows. There are already problems, acknowledged by the sewage services.

Britford is no ordinary village. It is a mostly unspoiled survival of English vernacular rural architecture from the 1600's, lying along the water-meadows. This is what is visible today of its past - what still lies hidden is the archaeological evidence of the Anglo-Saxon period, hundreds of years earlier, when Britford played a nationally critical role in the events which led to the invasion of 1066.

The whole is set around a village green and strung along the edge of the water-meadows, a glorious wider setting to Salisbury and the cathedral. The conservation document states how little modern incursion there is, and specifically recommends that it be considered as distinct from Salisbury, so as to conserve its special and distinct character. This is the over-riding concern: that such an important 'heritage asset' will be subsumed by Salisbury housing. We ask that Wiltshire Council takes the steps it promised in the 2014 conservation document to safeguard the 'pastoral serenity' of the setting, and protect the vulnerable site of Edward the Confessor's fateful decision in 1065 for future generations. 

A more everyday concern will be the increase in traffic.  South-bound traffic will not even be able to turn left to avoid the gyratory. All worse for those commuting up from Bournemouth, Downton and Nunton, as well as Britford village.

Please help to prevent this ill-thought-out proposal. We need to demonstrate that it is not only people who live somewhere who care about our national heritage; and that more congestion affects thousands, and give support to the people whose present homes will be flooded by the building of new ones. 

If you, like me, really value that lovely walk out of the city, through the fields and round the village, and feel the human need for access to countryside is important, or have any other concerns about this proposal please sign, and spread the word - you can lobby our councillors: 

​​​Sven Hocking (Harnham East Councillor):    Email: sven.hocking@wiltshire.gov.uk 

Richard Clewer (Leader of Wiltshire Council). Email: richard.clewer@wiltshire.gov.uk 

The application is in its final stages. It's last chance saloon folks!