The Wiltshire Housing Plan and Church Lane.

By David Feather

If anyone is wondering about the Wiltshire Housing Plan and its proposals for the area off Church Lane, it seems that you will have to keep on wondering for some time more. We have not forgotten about it and are watching โ€œprogressโ€. The wheels of bureaucracy grind on very slowly but hopefully this will be of advantage to those of us who love Southwick Country Park. We need to ensure that the planners get it right.

Continue reading

A WHSAP update

The target date for Wiltshire Councilโ€™s planning department’s decision on RPSโ€™s outline application (reference number 18/10035/OUT) to build 65 houses on the fields between Southwick Country Park and Church Lane (WHSAP site H2.4) has been moved yet again, this time to Monday December 2nd 2019.

Continue reading “A WHSAP update”

Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan update.

Wiltshire’s Spatial Planning Department has said that Inspector Stephen Lee’s preliminary report on the WHSAP Examination, which was due on Thursday May 9th, is delayed but for only a matter of a few days. When it has been received, it will be published on the WHSAP webpage.

All our posts on this subject are tagged WHSAP.

WHSAP Hearings.

The Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation Plan Examination is entering the second week of hearings. The Friends of Southwick Country Park spoke on Thursday (04/03/2019) of last week about the importance of the Church Lane site to the ecology of the Lambrok and the park. We tried to point out Wiltshireโ€™s obligation under SEA Directive 2001/42/EC and the National Planning Policy Framework (2019) to properly assess the ecology of the Lambrok as it runs through the sites at Church Lane, Upper Studley and Southwick Court.

Continue reading

Enhancing biodiversity

Protection does work.

Protected areas, national parks, nature reserves, and local wildlife areas do conserve biodiversity. In 2014, research undertaken by the universities at Exeter, Monash and Stellenbosch found that protected areas have significantly improved biodiversity. Plant and animal populations are measurably larger and there are more species inside the protected areas than there are outside: a wonderfully straightforward conclusion that everybody should be using to direct conservation policy.

Continue reading “Enhancing biodiversity”

WHSAP Examination Hearings

The WHSAP public hearings will begin on April 2nd. FoSCP have submitted additional written representation and have asked permission to speak at the hearing to be held on the morning of April 4th, when the biodiversity at sites at H2.4, H2.5 and H2.6 will be discussed.

Here is our second submission to the WHSAP Examination.

Our first submission can be found on the main menu under the heading WHSAP. All our posts about Wiltshire’s Housing Site Allocation Plan are tagged WHSAP and our posts about the planning application at Church Lane are tagged Church Lane.


1.Here is WHSAP Programme Officer Ian Kemp’s postal address for those who do not use or trust email:
Ian Kemp
Wiltshire HSAP Programme Officer
16 Cross Furlong
Wychbold
Droitwich Spa
Worcester WR9 7TA


2. Here is a webpage that has been set up to report on the progress of the WHSAP Examination.

3. The hearings in April will be held in public but only those who have applied to do so will be invited to speak; applications need to be made before 5pm Friday 8th March.


WHSAP – report submitted

Today, FoSCP submitted the report of their objections to the Schedule of Changes to the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocation plan. The plan proposes that land at Church Lane, Upper Studley and Southwick Court should be made available for development; we believe that developmentย  at these sites will damage the ecology of Lambrok Stream and subsequently the ecology of the park.

Read on for the details:

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑