Land developers are planning to bulldoze a rare and beautiful historic Orchard in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. It is among the country's few remaining historical orchards, dating back to 1870, and located to the rear of a stunning Grade II* listed property.

Plans to build 21 'luxury' homes on the site will cause the irreversible loss of many rare fruit trees, many of which are over 140 years old. Bat roosts, badger setts, bird and butterfly habitats will also be destroyed permanently. 

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2022

Victory has been declared for this petition after the final approved proposal will see the orchard being fenced off and maintained in accordance with an orchard management plan. 

IMPORTANT  UPDATE JUNE 2020

Ashford Homes have just submitted their 'revised' plans for bulldozing the orchard for a mini housing estate, claiming to have taken into account concerns for the orchard and the many objections you have raised. Check out the tranche of new documents on the planning page here (It can be a bit confusing because everything right back to 2018 is on there - the easiest way is to search in the page for everything with '2020' in the date).

The upshot: It's just as grotesque as before, leading to complete destruction of the orchard, although they have taken out a couple of houses (sparing 2-3 small trees at the edge of the orchard) and removed some carparking space (which is replaced by garages, making the houses even taller). In an attempt to appease concern about the orchard being bulldozed, they have put together a plan to plant a few new trees on what appears to be a manicured lawn (hardly a replacement for the incredibly diverse and established ecology already they). This is nothing more than paying lip service and is frankly offensive 

Sadly, it gets worse: they have taken on a communications company to help them get their proposal through and are actively canvassing town counsellors with glossy printouts promoting the plan, explaining how they have taken everyone' concerns into consideration and insisting that their proposal is the only way that Courtfield House building can be restored.

It is not the only solution. We only ask that they reduce the size of the development to allow the orchard area to be preserved.

A scandal?

On 26th February 2020, the ecologist (paid by Ashford Homes) who put together the ecology report was hauled before a professional conduct hearing following complaints about the poor quality of her ecology report for the land at Courtfield House (see the Protection of Endangered Species thorough rubbishing of her report here). She has been duly reprimanded and sent on - see the official outcome here. This ecology survey should now be completely disregarded and a fresh one commissioned. The landowner's submitted arboricultural report has downgraded many of the ancient and veteran trees and should be considered similarly flawed.

A viable alternative has been put forward

We have put forward a low cost, viable alternative for the orchard to be used as a community orchard, preserving its wildlife and rare trees while serving the wider community. Take a look at the proposal online here.

We are calling upon Wiltshire Council and the planning authorities to:

• Reject the proposed plan to build on the greenfield orchard space
• Insist that the housing developers fully and openly explore opportunities for the orchard to be preserved for use as a community space, e.g. for learning, forest schools, community events, wellness sessions, gardening and horticulture training and wildlife conservation.

The site is ideally suited near the centre of the town centre park and could be made easily accessible with a gate. The proposed houses are primarily luxury properties, and will not serve to alleviate a lack of affordable housing. Trowbridge town is a former mill town, with many disused buildings that can be redeveloped for housing.

This is a precious and rare greenfield site near the centre of an old market town, which several non-profit organisations have already expressed interest in managing the site, such as setting up a community orchard. Please help us preserve this precious space.

Thanks to you, progress is being made, please support us in this next round .

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To see the main planning masterplan click here (see all the planning documents here)

Get involved with the conversation by joining our private Facebook group here

Send your objections to Wiltshire Council by clicking here