I must express my disappointment that the High Court has seen fit to uphold the planning approval for Gleeson’s Filands site in Malmesbury without waiting for the completion of the Neighbourhood Planning process. Many people, including representatives from Malmesbury Town Council, St Paul’s Without and Brokenbourgh Parish Councils, have worked incredibly hard over the past two years to formulate our neighbourhood plan. This was undertaken in response to the government’s Localism Agenda and the Localism Act, which aimed to give local communities more of an input into planning decisions affecting their areas.

Indeed, the government allocated funding to enable Malmesbury to become a ‘front runner’ in this process. This decision seems to fly in the face of this stated aim, and as such is to be regretted.

Our neighbourhood plan is very close to its final stage, going out to a public referendum, which means that it is even more distressing that this decision has been taken at this time, and could not wait until our plan was complete.

I don’t believe anyone connected with the council or the plan would dispute that Malmesbury does need extra housing, particularly housing suitable for young people just starting out, and homes suitable for our more elderly population who find they need homes more appropriate to their requirements.

Indeed, the Wiltshire strategy indicated that we should accept a further 470 houses between now and 2020. Some would suggest that this was an underestimate. The neighbourhood plan acknowledges these needs, and is designed to ensure that they are met.

However, its existence would enable the community to have more input into how many homes are built, their location, and the nature and appearance of the homes. The Gleeson decision would appear to have removed this opportunity.

However, we acknowledge that the decision has been made and we must all now fight hard to ensure that our plan is finalised. This is the only chance we have to make sure we have more of a say in the nature of future developments. We must also ensure that our infrastructure is improved so that it can cope with the expanded population the new homes will bring.

Malmesbury is a beautiful, historic town, but we cannot turn our back on the pressures around us. If our town is to continue to prosper, we must move with the times.

Sue Poole, Mayor of Malmesbury.