A Wiltshire Council will meet with representatives from over 30 parish and town councils to discuss how to protect neighbourhood planning in the county.
Wiltshire Area Localism and Planning Group was formed to seek to protect their neighbourhood plans from developers using the fact the county does not have a demonstrable five-year plan for housing.
A meeting between the group and cabinet member for planning, Toby Sturgis and the corporate director for place & environment, Sam Fox is due to take place next week.
Mayor of Malmesbury Campbell Ritchie (left) and Wiltshire Councillor or Malmesbury Gavin Grant have launched a last ditch appeal to save the town’s last bank branch
Group spokesman Campbell Ritchie, the mayor of Malmesbury said: “There is already a long list of live and likely planning applications across Wiltshire seeking to make full use of the continuing shortfall in the five year land supply in Wiltshire.
“Until action is taken current neighbourhood plans and the efforts to update the Wiltshire Local Plan will continue being wrecked.”
In a letter to the group, council leader, Philip Whitehead and chief executive Terence Herbert agreed that clarity is needed on what neighbourhood plans can and cannot influence and that the weight carried by made plans over two year old needed to be addressed.
The council bosses agreed the process of creating them needed simplifying, that the current situation with plans becoming less valid over time was not functional and that they needed to be more closely linked to the duration of the Wiltshire Local Plan.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here