Malmesbury Town Council has been advised that the Secretary of State at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has decided not to call in the decision reached by Wiltshire Council's Strategic Planning Committee to approve the planning application for 71 houses at Filands in direct contradiction of the Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan.
Commenting, Mayor Campbell Ritchie said:
This is another very disappointing decision for Malmesbury. We can now see how much the rules for making planning decisions have been changed nationally to undermine Neighbourhood Planning. It is important to remember the damaging decision taken by Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Planning Committee on this application only happened because Wiltshire Council is unable to demonstrate it has a 5 year supply of land across Wiltshire as a whole. The communities covered by the Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan have done everything asked of them.
Since the original decision Malmesbury Town Council has reached out to other towns and councils across Wiltshire to ensure they are aware of this threat to their Neighbourhood Plans. We are also, of course, seeking urgent action by Wiltshire Council to correct its land supply issue, but not at the expense, again, of our Neighbourhood Plan.
