Traveller sites

We really have no idea at all of what demand there is for permanent or temporary traveller sites. Central Government has decreed that we need 4000 sites across England, but their logic is wholly bogus. As a result the unelected South West Regional Assembly, an organisation which a Conservative Government would abolish, came to the wholly unsupported conclusion in its so-called 'Regional Spatial Strategy' that we in North Wiltshire need 48 extra pitches (2 caravans each, so 96 caravans) plus 12 transit pitches; and that Wiltshire as a whole, including Swindon, needs to make provision for some 200 extra caravans. Says who?
I argued in my Commons debate that there should be a duty on local authorities to make suitable provision for local people - both the homeless by providing social housing, and for local travellers by providing encampments. Wiltshire already have 6 under their management, with a population of some 200 people. Do we really need to more than double that? Only local councillors should decide, not Central Government, and not unelected Regional Assemblies.

Housing

Equally it is local people, through their elected councillors, who should decide on the location of new housing. I have campaigned consistently against the westwards expansion of Swindon which would otherwise threaten to engulf Wootton Bassett, the Lydiards, Purton and Cricklade. It would be easy to allow Chippenham to sprawl northwards towards Junction 17, to encourage large “executive-style” housing in most of our more desirable villages and to permit lucrative “garden grabbing” developments. I will always be wholly opposed to any such thing, as I know are many residents of North Wiltshire. I have included my submissions to the consultation on 'Wiltshire 2026 - Planning for Wiltshire's Future' below. You can read further information and see the consultation document from Wiltshire Council by clicking here.

Response to the Consultation

18^th December 2009

The Spatial Planning Team,
Economy and Enterprise,
Wiltshire Council,
County Hall,
Bythesea Road,
Trowbridge,
BA14 8JN.

Dear Sir,

I write in general terms to object strongly to very many of the proposals outlined in your document Wiltshire 2026 - Planning for Wiltshire’s Future. In particular, I do not accept that Chippenham should be a strategic site, nor that it should be required to provide 5,500 houses in the next 20 years. I similarly object to Calne being asked to provide 1155 houses, Malmesbury 718 and Wootton Bassett 912. None of that unwanted development seems to me to be sustainable.

I also object most strongly to the proposal that 3000 houses should be built on Ridgeway Farm or The Pry to the West of Swindon. These developments seem to me to threaten the vitally important green space between Swindon and the neighbouring small communities of Cricklade, Purton, The Lydiards and Wootton Bassett.

Leaving aside the detail, these housing projections are based on the flawed document known as the South West Regional Spatial Strategy. As you know, even the current Government have failed to provide a sound legal basis for this document. More important perhaps, Caroline Spelman MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for DCLG, is committed to abolishing the Regional Spatial Strategy and returning the right to decide on strategic housing numbers to local people. It seems to me quite wrong that Wiltshire Council should be considering progressing on the basis of the RSS, knowing that the likelihood is that the fundamental justification for it may very well be removed within months of now.

I would be grateful if you would register my strongest possible objections to the plans, and will happily expand on my objections if you would like me to do so.

Yours sincerely,

James Gray MP

--
26^th February 2009

George Batten Esq.,
Director of Environmental Services,
Wiltshire County Council,
County Hall,
Bythesea Road,
Trowbridge,
Wiltshire,
BA14 8JD.

Dear Mr Batten,

I write in response to the Wiltshire County Council Public Consultation on the proposed 3000 new homes to the west of Swindon within North Wiltshire, proposed under the Regional Spatial Strategy.

I was disappointed not to be called to give evidence to the examination in public, despite my clearly expressed views on the subject, and was equally disappointed that the unelected South West Regional Assembly concluded that some 3000 houses should be built in my constituency, without any such consultation.

I should make my position plain. I take the view that there should be no further building of housing to the west or north of Swindon. The land which lies between Swindon and the towns and villages of Wootton Bassett, the Lydiards, Purton and Cricklade are vital to the preservation of those towns and villages, and I am determined that that green buffer should be preserved at all costs. The imposition of these 3000 houses by the unelected quango known as the South West Regional Assembly is wholly unacceptable in a democratic society.

The Conservative Party, which seems to stand some chance of forming a Government within the next twelve months, is committed to abolishing the South West Regional Assembly, and the Regional Development Agency and to rescinding the Regional Spatial Strategy, which seems to us to have no democratic legitimacy of any kind whatsoever.

It is therefore my strong view that no action should be taken in the meantime which might be irreversible in the event of there being a Conservative Government taking those actions. The people of North Wiltshire are wholly opposed to the building of these 3000 houses and I very much hope that both Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council will take note of those views.

Yours sincerely,

James Gray MP