WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS ?.

Parking on the pavement is inconsiderate and illegal, if causing an obstruction. In narrow streets like this it doesn't help passing motorists either, because there still isn't enough room for two cars to pass. Give pedestrians priority: the motorists can wait the 10 seconds it takes for the on-coming car to pass.  

McCarthy and Stone Development (Octagon Garage, George Street/Silver Street)

HURRAH.

Construction has started and is cracking on at a rollicking pace. Look forward to intelligent and cultured grey heads taking up residence on George Street in a year or so. It'll be interesting to see what difference they make to retail  businesses at that end of town - antiques and restaurants.   

Conservation Area Re-Organisation

The 'Conservation Area Appraisal' can be downloaded from the WWDC website or from here (warning: it is a large 2.2mb file, so be patient if you do not have broadband).     

CAN WE HAVE OUR HALL BACK PLEASE MISTER ?

Designed in 1837 by the celebrated architect Edward Blore and given to the then UDC of Warminster in 1904 by the Marquis of Bath, this delightful landmark building has suffered a miserable history since the County Council sold it in the 1970s.  Whilst there were no written covenants on the Marquis' gift, his intentions were clear in his speech, that it be held "...as a trust for the benefit of the inhabitants of Warminster." (Longleat House Archives, Warminster 1297).  We're not sure how we benefited from its later sale at a knock-down price. The only inhabitants benefiting from it now are pigeons. It's last owner was declared bankrupt a couple of years ago and it has remained empty since. The forces of nature are taking over, so, as there is no sign of a commercial 'white knight' developer , the Civic Trust is launching a public subscription campaign to acquire the Old Town Hall for public use. Our sister organisation the Warminster Preservation Trust, commissioned an excellent study by Niall Phillips Architects of Bath in 1995, a PDF of which is available here:

.  Old Town Hall report. Old Town Hall plans

Three Horseshoes Mall

We succeeded in persuading the Planning Committee to refuse planning permission for International property developers and landowners Stockland Plc's timid and unimaginative redevelopment proposals, despite the incomprehensible support of the planning officer for the scheme.  We don't know if they will try again, perhaps with a new consultant, but it is highly likely they will. Watch this space.  

Dents Gloves site, Fairfield Road.

This proposal, on the other hand, gets our full support.  A major food retailer (provisionally Waitrose) and a lot of Social Housing is exactly what Warminster needs. The proposals would draw on Warminster's large south-eastern sphere of influence, drawing people in from the lower Wylye Valley, and would mesh well with our 'retail loop' ideas: demolish a couple of buildings on the west side of Station Road and you have created an opening into the rear of the Market Place. Despite the best efforts of the Planning Officer to stop it, the Town Council and Area Board have voted unanimously in favour of the scheme. Hurrah.  The Town Council co-opted our Secretary, Chris Montague, to speak on behalf of the town at the Area Board meeting on Wedesday 5th Aug 2009. This is a very encouraging departure from normal practice, which recognises the knowledge and expertise of the Civic Trust and the benefits of partnership.        

      District Plan

National planning policy requires WWDC (or its successor) to replace the District Plan (see Planning page) with a Local Development Framework. The LDF is a district plan in all but name, but in a format that allows individual sections to be amended without having vote on and reprint the whole thing.   WWDC had commenced a public consultation on 'Core Strategy Issues' (sounds like a strategic town plan to us) for inclusion within the LDF, but had got no further with it on its demise in April 2009. The report and questionnaire for Warminster can be downloaded from their website and from here.  Crucially, the LDF process allows land-owners and developers to propose potential sites for inclusion within the LDF - a very different approach to the rigid, 'top-down', dirigisme of the District Plan approach. 

Land north of Victoria Road (H12 in the Local Plan).

It looks like Persimmon 'Homes' have got their claws into West Wiltshire DC and its successor Wiltshire Council. Despite the fact that the town's only secondary school and all its medical practices are on the east side of the town, the town already has a crippling cross-town traffic problem, and there are acres of potential development land east of Woodcock Road that developers have already purchased and done feasibility studies on,  planning permission has been granted for c. 200 new houses on the FLOODPLAIN of the River Were behind Victoria Road. Persimmons have subdivided the site amongst other developers and the first detailed applications are for c. 130% more housing per sq metre. In other words, the outline planning permission means nothing.....      Have any of our planning officers got even 'O' Level geography ? Construction is requiring 24hr de-watering of the site, all of which is being discharged illegally into the public sewers and the River Were!!!!.

Persimmons are seeking planning permission to demolish the late 19th C farmhouse at the entrance to their site, so that they can add even more houses to the site. There is nothing in planning law to prevent them doing so.