WILTSHIRE Council has been challenged to hold a public debate on where Chippenham’s new housing and businesses should be located.

Consultation ends April 8 on a draft Chippenham Site Allocations Plan, which outlines where 3,700 houses and 26.5ha of employment land should be delivered between now and 2028.

At an area board meeting on Monday, (MAR 2) Chris Caswill, Wiltshire Councillor for Chippenham Monkton, said: “My challenge is, between now and April 8, to hold a proper debate in the town so the public can have their say, and I think the area board should sponsor it.

“These proposals are going to transform this whole town.”

The suggestion was applauded by the public, before area board chairman Linda Packard said she did not think it would be possible in the time frame.

Coun Caswill said: “I take it people are afraid to have this debate.” She answered: “I totally disagree. No one is afraid.”

Earlier in the meeting, Alistair Cunningham, Wiltshire Council’s associate director of economic development and planning, reiterated: “For clarity, we are not looking at any site west of the A350 to deliver mixed use growth, that is employment and housing.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman told the Gazette that The Range, which has applied to site a distribution centre and shop to the west of the A350, would be heard by strategic planning committee on April 22 at the earliest.

Comments can be submitted on the site allocations plan at http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/