KEEP MARLBOROUGH DOWNS SPECIAL

THE FACTS:

There is no need for any large new further strategic housing allocation because the housing provisions up to 2026 which are set out in the adopted plan have almost all been met.

Even if there was a need for some more houses, there is no need for a Greenfield site because Wiltshire Council Officers themselves have identified 4 suitable Brownfield sites within the built up area, other sites will become available as well in the next 11 years.

The land behind College Fields and Barton Park forms an important part of the North Wessex Downs an AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB) of national importance.  This land is also outside the settlement boundary which has been approved in January 2015 with the aim of containing development.

• National planning policy states that “planning permission should be refused for major developments in these designated areas except in exceptional circumstances” – there are NO exceptional circumstances. 
• Also this site is elevated above the town and forms an important part of it’s setting.  Any development here would be on the skyline, visible from key vantages point in the AONB.
• Core Policy 51 – of the Wiltshire plan seeks to protect, conserve and enhance Wiltshire’s distinctive landscape character.  Development here would be contrary to this.
• This area is an important habitat for bats, owls, dormice and other protected species.  The wildlife and habitat quality and potential of this site needs to be taken into account and protected.

 
Access into the site can only be achieved by building a new junction, road, footpath, streetlights through the only area of public open space in College Fields and Barton Park suitable as a children’s playing field.

 
Barton Park and College Fields already has a shortage of public areas for our children to play on.  It is unacceptable for the Wiltshire Council or the Town Council to remove this land which is designated as public open space in perpetuity simply to allow the College to get planning permission on land which they will then sell to a developer.

 
If Wiltshire Council are allowed to sell private open space on sensitive landscape of National Importance where development will be visible on the skyline, this will set a dangerous precedent for developers to build anywhere around Marlborough.