The applicant, the Hussey Family Trust, via agents Turley, has asked Swindon Borough Council for its ruling on whether an environmental impact assessment must be included in any future planning application to build 300 on land east of The Marsh on the edge of Wanborough.
This is the same site where pharmaceutical company Wasdell Group wanted to build a huge industrial and science park – which caused a major row between the company, Wanborough villagers and Swindon Borough Council.
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While EIA screening opinion applications are solely concerned with whether such an assessment is needed in a future application, they are a reliable indicator that such a proposal is being worked on.
And this one does give details of what those plans might hold.
It says: “The majority of the dwellings will be two to 2.5 storeys, however, some areas will be up to a maximum of three storeys.
“The heights across the site will be predominantly 10 metres, however, in key locations may be up to 12m above finished floor levels, and at a minimum distance of around 385 m from the North Wessex Downs National Landscape.
“The main access point to the site will be from The Marsh on the western boundary.”
A masterplan illustration shows that most of the houses could be built on the northern part of the site, near the existing houses in The Marsh, with an L-shaped green buffer zone around the development to the south and east.
The screening application says: “The siting and quantum of the proposed development has been informed by the existing landscape, visual and heritage constraints to ensure there are no significant effects on these features.
“The majority of the proposed green infrastructure will comprise a buffer between the National Landscape designated area immediately south of the site and the proposed built form in the north west.
“A landscaping scheme includes the retention and strengthening of boundary vegetation and the introduction of new planting, including reinstatement of historic hedgerows.”
No decision has been made, but both the borough council’s ecology and archaeology officers have told planners that an EIA would be required.
The council refused the proposed industrial and science park on the site in 2020, largely because its position is in a designated area of non-coalescence to prevent Swindon swallowing Wanborough.
An appeal by Wasdell Group was refused in 2022.
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