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THE latest attempt to squeeze more housing into the Salisbury district without upsetting too many people got under way this week.

There will be no new town at Firsdown, or anywhere else on greenfield land, and just four key sites have been identified for major housing development.

Faced with massive protests over their wide-ranging proposals earlier this year to provide 12,400 homes over two decades, council planners have chosen to focus the consultation process on immediate essentials.

This means a five-year plan to build 3,500 new homes alongside existing large developments at Fugglestone Red, Old Sarum and Hampton Park in Salisbury, and Archer's Gate at Amesbury.

These, they say, will meet the district's most pressing needs.

It will be left to the new Wiltshire unitary authority, which takes over next year, to decide where to put the other 8,900 homes which must be accommodated, after consulting local communities.

Current thinking is that, in total, the Salisbury and Wilton area will take 8,700 new homes; the Amesbury area 2,240; and the southern area 590 - including 50 at Alderbury, a similar number at Laverstock, and 200 in and around Downton.

The western area will take 510 - up to 300 of them at Mere - and the Nadder area 360, with a maximum of 250 at Tisbury.

One main problem highlighted by the planners is the need for affordable homes.

Their surveys suggest that even if all the new housing qualified as affordable, it would not meet the demand.

As it is, builders will be told to make 40 per cent of any new development affordable, and even that is considered a tough target to enforce. "It's not possible to pull up the drawbridge and say we're fine as we are," said forward planning team leader David Milton, who stressed Salisbury and Wiltshire were working closely together on the issue.

"Businesses are telling us we are on the verge of a crisis in terms of workforce."

Planning portfolio holder, Paul Clegg, said: "This isn't really about nationally-imposed targets. It's about what local people tell us they need now."

The draft consultation document, Our Place In The Future, was approved by the council's cabinet when it met on Tuesday.


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A DOCUMENT detailing the proposals will be sent out to every household in the district next month.

Then an official eight-week consultation period starts on September 1.

There will be a series of exhibitions where planning officers will be available.These will be at: Salisbury Guildhall, September 1; Grove Buildings, Mere, September 2; Victoria Hall, Tisbury, September 3; Antrobus House, Amesbury, September 4; St Laurence's Church Hall, Downton, September 5, and Michael Herbert Hall, Wilton, September 6, all open from noon to 7pm.

In addition, people can visit www.salisbury.gov.uk/preferredoptions for information on the entire forward planning exercise, not just those aspects highlighted in the latest consultation document.It is still not too late to comment on other elements.

10:58am Thursday 17th July 2008

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