A DEVELOPER planning to build 180 homes on the outskirts of Trowbridge has been criticised for showing a ‘shocking lack of transparency’ by local residents.

Waddeton Park Ltd’s proposal to build the houses, along with a new primary school, on land at Southwick Court was met with opposition from residents and Trowbridge Town Council, who said it was at risk of flooding.

Graham Hill, of Balmoral Road, said that a very small number of homes, which were adjacent to the field, had a piece of paper posted to them, with a link to a website where comments on the outline planning application could be sent.

However, Mr Hill slammed the developer for not delivering the notice to more residents, not putting them on lampposts on entry points to the field, for not responding to people’s feedback and not providing an address for which to send their letters of reply.

“Not only is this area of land a big flood risk, meaning it is not suitable for housing or a school, me and many others agree Waddeton Park are showing a shocking lack of transparency,” he said.

“How can we respond to something if they do not reply to our concerns, have no address to send the letters we write to them, and set a self-imposed deadline of October 27? That is a tiny window.

“I did not have this posted through my door and very few others actually got one at all. I have been investigating this and barely anyone got a leaflet.

“Our suspicion is that this is deliberate and intended to form a part of their submission to evidence little if any public opposition to the proposed building.

“This smacks of a presumption that the site will not only be included as an appropriate site, even though Natural England describes it as only being ‘marginally sustainable’, but that building a road from the A361 opposite Southwick Country Park, across a quarter of a mile of unspoilt countryside, across approximately 40 metres of level three floodplain then through a hedgerow protected under law and council policy, will somehow be ‘nodded through’.

“I can just see them saying, ‘We gave residents a chance to respond but got no reply’ – well, that is simply not true.”

Trowbridge Town Council objected to the plans, saying that the site is home to rare post-medieval earthworks which would be destroyed, a lot of the land is a level three floodplain and they raised concerns about protecting Lambrok stream and nearby hedgerows that are home to wildlife.

Waddeton Park Ltd did not respond before the Wiltshire Times went to press when asked for a comment.