Chippenham roads and houses

Our Chairman, Anne Henshaw, recently wrote to the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald in response to their front cover article In late November about the Eastern Distributor Road.  Here is the text of her letter, which was published.

Who has ever heard of a developer commissioning a Council and its in-house consultant to undertake a piece of work whose findings are contrived to create benefit to land on which that developer has options.

Even stranger when the proposal, and the land which it crosses, had been previously strongly opposed, and rejected, at the Chippenham Sites Allocation Public Inquiry in 2016. In addition the subsequent three Route Options which were put out to public consultation in 2021 in connection to the Housing Infrastructure Fund bid sought by Wiltshire Council were not supported as evidenced by the responses to the consultation questionnaire. (Particularly the route shown on the map in your newspaper)

Chippenham Riverside, formerly Chippenham 2020, working with Future Chippenham have been thwarted by public opinion and public voice at each attempt to bring this deeply unpopular proposal forward.

Perhaps Chippenham Riverside is concerned that the Council’s new Housing Requirement figure which will come forward with the review of the Core Strategy in early 2023, will show a lower figure than previously projected for the period up to 2036. Not good for those with land banks and land options. Office for National Statistics latest population figures (2021) show a continuing drop in population as a result of lower birthrates. This raises questions about housing growth.

As Wiltshire Council and other organisations such as the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership well know, you cannot just build your way out of congestion any more than you can just build your way to economic growth.

Chippenham town centre needs a radical forward thinking in-depth study of its problems and a radical forward thinking solution. Has this ever happened? Will it ever happen?

Bypasses, Distributor Roads /Connector Roads. They all fail to find the solution to the way in which old and new communities and businesses must adapt to a rapidly changing world. They are merely relief systems based on out of date strategic planning models, and are not fit for purpose