Burton Hill, Malmesbury

The project commenced with Impact Planning Services Ltd (IPS) advising on the short-to-medium term development potential of land to the rear of a site for which IPS had applied grant of outline planning permission. The development potential of the balance of the land holding was therefore initially promoted through the submission in response to the local planning authority’s “call for sites” as part of its SHLAA process in 2009. Following the eventual acknowledgement from the authority’s SHLAA process that the site represented a legitimate candidate for an urban extension, the next stage of the promotion of the site was through the emerging Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan.

The Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan (MNP)

IPS had been involved in the Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan since the appointment of the MNP Steering Group in April 2012.

IPS promoted the land at Burton Hill throughout the Neighbourhood Planning process. This promotion ultimately resulted in the proposal receiving an allocation for approximately 50 dwellings (the majority for older person’s independent living), across three sites in separate ownership.

The Proposal

Alongside Cowan Land and Survey Ltd a land assembly strategy (including the acquisition of third party property) led to a development proposal which accorded with the allocation policy through the provision of 30 “active elderly” (over 55s) units supported by 29 conventional houses including 6 affordable dwellings. This combination was informed by a viability appraisal and was carefully explained to the MNP steering Group during the course of the Neighbourhood Plan’s formulation.

IPS developed a proposal that could be accommodated within the smaller two site area while also meeting local housing needs set out in the Neighbourhood Plan. It was identified that there was a demand within the local community for high quality “Active Elderly” accommodation. This local demand was incorporated into the proposal, with the north site being specifically designed to accommodate this type of development. The north site was selected due to its ideal access links to local services and the town centre. This proposal increased the total number of dwellings present on site to 59.

This two-site proposal was submitted as an outline application to Wiltshire Council on the 25th September 2016. While the application was locally well received, due to extensive S.106 deliberations the application was not approved until the 10th May 2018.

The proposal is currently being marketed either as a single proposal or as two separate sites to be developed independently.