Plans for up to 40 homes in Trowbridge refused by council

On December 16, plans were filed for a development of dozens of homes on land south of Drynham Lane, just north of the A363, on the outskirts of Trowbridge, which is reported “known to be rich” in prehistoric remains.

Applicants Drynham Lane Ltd said the dwellings would bring “a range of benefits including the delivery of new market and affordable housing which will make an important contribution to supply in Wiltshire”.

The site is agricultural land located next to Elm Grove Farm, where Redrow Homes were recently granted approval for a development of up to 248 homes.

Also nearby, there are plans for a further 70 homes on land south of White Horse Business Park.

The Drynham Lane homes would consist of two-storey dwellings, with three-storey as “an exception” where extra height and scale is required to “establish a focal point”.

According to the plans, the development would create an “efficient use of the land” that “optimises density” and positively relates to its surroundings.

However, on June 16, the application was refused by Wiltshire Council, who said the application failed to provide enough information to assure the council the development would not have an adverse impact on the area in several respects.(Image: BG Ltd)

In the decision notice, the council issued six reasons for its rejection of the plans. The first of these highlights that the application site lies within a consultation zone for bats, and the plans had the potential to “result in significant adverse impact on the special features of the site.”

The notice continues: “The development will result in unacceptable losses in local biodiversity resource biodiversity due to the removal of habitats including habitat of principal importance (hedgerows and associated loss of habitat and features (scrub and grassland) known or likely to support protected and notable species.”

The note adds that “insufficient information” was provided pertaining to the protection of bats, birds, dormice, reptiles, and great crested newts.

As this paper reported in January, after the plans were field, an archaeologist at Wiltshire Council, Neil Adam, called for a geophysical survey of the site, having reported that it is an area “known to be rich in later prehistoric and Romano-British field systems and settlement remains”.

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Mr Adam said: “It is entirely possible that further, as-yet unrecorded sub-surface archaeological features from these two periods exist within the site, features that would be severely impacted by groundworks associated with the proposed development.

“I would therefore advise that the site be made the subject of a geophysical survey, followed by a trail trench evaluation in order to ground-truth the results of the remote sensing.”

The second rationale provided by the council in its decision, addressed concerns over the prehistoric nature of the site, and found that “insufficient information” was included concerning the archaeological potential of the site, and the potential impact of a development.

Among the council’s other grounds for refusal was concern that a noise assessment had failed to demonstrate the

The council’s final point was that the proposals did not provide for the delivery of the “necessary infrastructure required to mitigate the direct impacts of the development” and therefore fails to comply with a number of “Core Policies” in the Wiltshire Council Core strategy.

On its decision notice, the council also disclosed the procedure for appealing the decision, should the applicant wish to.