Housing Steering Group 2015 Update

At earlier meetings of the Housing Steering Group, it adopted a number of assessment criteria for judging how suitable a site was for future development of new houses and has begun looking at sites around Melksham and the surrounding villages.

The Group last met in November, when it considered a range of sites in the Berryfields area. This completed the assessment of all previously identified SHLAA1 sites to the North and North East of Melksham, as well as those around Berryfields.

In an attempt to speed up the assessment process, the Group has worked remotely to assess all of the Shaw and Whitely SHLAA sites, and also revisited one site to take into account further information received from a developer.

To help pay for their development of the Canal, the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust are proposing a number of sites for housing. These sites around Bowerhill and to the east of Melksham have not yet been considered.

Once the Housing Group has completed its preliminary assessment of all the sites it will consider broader issues such as design, parking etc, housing mix – ie: not allowing three storey buildings adjacent to old peoples’ bungalows.

The Housing Task Group welcomes contributions on any aspect of housing from anyone in the Melksham Town and Parish Council areas.

1 SHLAA - Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. This is land identified by Wiltshire Council as sites for possible future housing development.