Government inspectors say Wiltshire’s housing strategy ‘not fit for purpose’

By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison with additional reporting by Warminster Journal

A blueprint that sets out where and how many houses will be built in Wiltshire over the next 10 to 15 years has been rejected by government inspectors.

The Local Plan 2020-2038 was supposed to offer a framework for delivering nearly 37,000 houses and 160 hectares of employment land across Wiltshire before 2038.

It was due to replace the Wiltshire Core Strategy, which covers development until 2026.

But following a series of hearings late last year, government inspectors have ordered Wiltshire Council to scrap its draft plan and start again.

The bombshell assessment leaves the entire process in limbo and opens the county up to speculative development, with more chance of planning appeal success for construction firms in what has been described as a “policy vacuum”.

The inspectors found three main problems with the plan:

Firstly, that it does not allocate enough land to meet the identified housing and affordable housing needs of the county.

Secondly, that key elements of the strategy rely on a new settlement north of Salisbury and other sites whose location, timing and infrastructure are too uncertain.

And thirdly, that the report does not link the proposed number and location of new houses with where the identified housing need is in the county.

The inspectors were also critical of the way the council had tried to ‘squeeze’ the numbers to achieve a lower allocation of housing.

The county’s planning officers have been working on the plan for around nine years – since 2017 – and now face the choice of withdrawing the plan or having the government inspectors recommend that it is not adopted.

They have also asked the council to confirm which path it intends to take.

If councillors opt to withdraw, they accept years of work being written off but avoid the reputational hit of a formal “do not adopt” recommendation.

If they refuse, they move towards a report that condemns the plan as unsound – which developers will use against them when submitting large planning applications.

Cllr Adrian Foster, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said, “We remain firmly committed to ensuring Wiltshire has a robust, up‑to‑date Local Plan in place as swiftly as possible.

“It is therefore regrettable that we find ourselves in this position after so many years of diligent work, extensive community engagement, and significant resource investment.

“Cabinet and Full Council will formally decide on the next step for the Plan. In the meantime, we are now starting preparations on a new Plan.”

The decision on the Inspectors’ two options for the Local Plan will now be considered by Cabinet on 6th May and then Full Council on 19th May.