OUTLINE planning permission has been given for a 2,500-house development on land to the east of Trowbridge in West Ashton.

Developers Ashton Park Trowbridge Ltd & Persimmon Homes Ltd have had plans for homes, business spaces, two primary schools, a secondary school and two community centres approved by Wiltshire Council’s strategic planning committee.

The proposals, which were first brought forward six years ago, will include the long-discussed West Ashton/ Yarnbrook relief road.

Ashton Park is part of the reason Wiltshire Council has been unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

The plans were first approved in January 2018.

But they have been stuck in limbo as the developers and the council discuss Section106 legal agreements, affordable housing numbers and the protection of the local bats.

Mike Wilmott, head of development management at the council, said the big argument now is the viability of the scheme which led to a revised affordable housing number of over 26 per cent of the overall development.

A spokesman for Persimmons said the developer intended to begin construction quickly to deliver the infrastructure proposed.

Cllr Horace Prickett who represents the Southwick division and first saw the Ashton Park bid in 1999, said: “Speaking for North Bradley and West Ashton Parish Council, we are reluctant to see the green go but we are glad to see a conclusion to it.

“We’ve known about this since 1999 when we first discuss this with persimmons, and here we are years later.

He added: “It was inevitable we were going to have to provide our share of the housing share for Wiltshire and that was agreed in our neighbourhood plan.”

The development was originally in the North Bradley and West Ashton area.

But after boundary revisions it is now part of Trowbridge’s Park ward.

Chairman of the committee, Howard Greenman proposed the recommendation to approve the outline plans which passed in a majority vote.