I have the strongest concerns about the planning application at Haygrove Farm, Lower Westwood, Bradford on Avon, for the demolition of a Dutch barn, stable building and shed and a new building for two units of holiday accommodation, with access and associated parking, and the unbelievable way Wiltshire Council is handling it.

The developer has said that he has been told this will go through on ‘delegated authority’. Wiltshire Cllr Magnus Macdonald attended the March Parish Council meeting, where this application was opposed by the majority of councillors, and said he felt “the application would go through as the council do not like rejecting applications as it causes expenses if it goes to appeal. Even ‘calling in’ the application would cost money”.

The developer made a presentation focusing purely on the design, appearance and layout of the proposal with no discussion about strategic implications for the village.

This application is strongly objected to by neighbours and the parish council. Some 95 per cent of the support for it is from people living outside the village.

None of the planning committee live in Westwood and are probably unaware of the rural nature of it and the dangerous road conditions.

Westwood is a green belt area and therefore unsustainable for development from the perspective of traffic generation, retail provision and other facilities.

We have been told a planning officer has received the parish’s objections, and doesn’t think that they are a good enough reason to refuse the application, particularly in the light of new government relaxations on the uses of brown sites in the green belt. This is ridiculous, this is not a brown site.

The objections are: 

*It is in a Green Belt and the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is contrary to the existing and emerging Wiltshire Core Strategy and the NPPF.

* It does not provide affordable housing and increases second homes.

* The current land use is agricultural.

* The access joins the busy and minor Lower Westwood Road and is next to a very narrow blind bend, a significant road safety hazard already and this will exacerbate that.

* Lower Westwood is not a holiday destination. 

*There will be noise, disturbance and smells.

* There should be a caveat preventing expansion and building of further holiday homes. This will set a precedent.

You cannot ask villages to go to the expense of preparing a Neighbourhood Plan and then ignore their input at the very first hurdle.

Dr Sally Vanson, The Old School House, Lower Westwood, Bradford on Avon.