October 5th 2016
From our NDP Chairman Baz Worth – in response to today’s decision regarding Arms Farm:
A decision was made today (OCT 5 2016) by Wiltshire Council’s Planning Committee (by a majority vote of 4 to 2) that the proposal for 14 dwellings at Arms Farm will go through. We are also aware that this decision goes directly against the wishes of the Arms Farm Working Group and (from what we know) the vast majority of people who live close to or near the Arms Farm site.
The NDP Team does not have the power to overturn these planning decisions. However, we are here to capture, analyse and demonstrate the wishes of the majority of the Parish – and this is precisely what we will be doing once we’ve analysed the recent Parish Survey data. We would therefore like you all to be aware that the NDP team prepared a statement to be read (and taken into consideration) at the Planning Meeting today. The statement reads as follows:
“The NDP Core Group has engaged with the community at several Parish meetings and has recently managed the delivery of a Parish Questionnaire. The findings of this survey show clearly that the majority of Sutton Benger Parish residents are opposed to the development of green belt land for housing, with 49.7% of respondents saying that there is never a justification to build on green field sites.
The Core Group will continue the work to develop a full Neighbourhood Development Plan for formal consultation. However we now feel that there are already clear findings on the wishes of the majority of the community with regards to this type of development in the parish.
We therefore request that the Planning Committee takes this into account in reaching their decision on the planning application before them today.”
The Core Team will continue to progress the NDP through to completion and are grateful for the help of all of those Parishioners who have so willingly given their time to assist.
