OUR REPORT ON THE DECISION

WILTSHIRE'S new strapline is 'Where everybody matters' and tonight members of the council's western area planning committee really meant it - but their officials obviously don't.
While it was cllr Andrew Davis who moved the motion to refuse the application for a (Sainsbury's) supermarket on our  centralcar park it was cllr Christopher Newbury who pointed out the huge elephant in the room.
That elephant is who gave a huge commercial company like Stockland the nod and the wink that parts of a public asset, ie the car park, could be sold off for a supermarket?
The only possible beneficiary of such a deal is the Wiltshire Council capital budget not the public in Warminster.
"Part of the site is owned by the council who are the local planning authority," said cllr Newbury.
"I don't blame Stockland - they approached the two previous authorities (WWDC and WCC) to ask whether on principle they were willing to sell the land.
"They were told that it was something that could be considered so Stockland brought forward a speculative proposal and this application.
"They know that money is tight and that property asset sales are the name of the game."
The application and work undertaken so far could have cost  Stockland as much as 100,000 pounds, he added and said that he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get this matter on the agenda of the area board for the past five months.
Some of us have far greater suspicions than Councillor Newbury.
"I think someone has given some kind of pledge to get this through by hook or by crook," said former county councillor Steve Dancey.
"All along it has been noticeable that the county council has wanted to oil the wheels of the Stockland application and put the brakes on the Dents site.
"They came up with the most fatuous objection I have ever seen in objecting to Dents yet this latest plan is considered acceptable even though it poses risks to pedestrians, will kill off town centre trade, causes huge problems for Avenue School and provides excess shopping capacity for Warminster.
"I hope the matter is on the agenda of the next area board as vfw will be in attendance at this meeting." When the dust has settled we intend to put in a Freedom of Information Act request to see all the communications between the parties about this. We have it on good authority that such matters as this are eligible.
Several speakers made impassioned points during the meeting urging councillors to reject the application when it came before them - most have been heard before and are aired elsewhere on this site.
But some have not been.
Mrs Jeanne Tilt, the chairman of governors at The Avenue, asked exactly how the applicant expected the school to cope under these proposals when it has 74 staff, hundreds of children at the school and the Surestart centre and only 10 parking spaces.
Councillor Andrew Davis also posed the question of where would 130 shop workers park and where exactly would residents of Atyeo Court park as they had no designated parking places.
 Our advice to Stockland is 'When you are in a hole stop digging'.

PUBLIC REACTION
NEW is filtering out amongst Warminster people that councillors have rejected a plan to radically alter the look of the area behind the Market Place which would have included placing a new supermarket slap bang in front of the Avenue School.

 

"The decision last night has not been greeted with great celebration amongst those I have spoken to but more with a quiet sense of satisfaction that grassroots commonsense has prevailed," says Paul Macdonald.

 

"Those of us with planning experience however know that it may not be the end of the matter."

 

Council staff had written a report recommending permission for the plans which has certainly raised eyebrows amongst some in this current climate of distrust of politics.

 

Stockland, own the Three Horseshoes Walk, sought the go-ahead to demolish and replace the town library, the TIC and the CAB to make their scheme work and extend their sphere of influence.

 

They also needed control over the public car parks.

 

Paul wrote an in-depth summary of that report using his experience as a former planning councillor. The application failed on five of the grounds highlighted in those words.

 

"Stockland obviously wish to make the most of their investment which is right and proper for a commercial organisation," warns Paul.

 

"But we have the planning set-up to look after our other interests in the town."

 

The Western area planning committee of councillors refused arguing that proposal would provide too much shopping space contrary to the 2004 West Wilts Plan creating a conflict between users of the space eg pedestrians, delivery, parking and users of school and surgeries

They also objected to loss of bus parking and insufficient provision of car parking spaces and thought the scheme was out of keeping with the area.

 

"Stockland may have a strategy which may be incremental in achieving the best for their interest," says Paul

 

"They began this process by presenting themselves to the town council. They then slightly amended their proposal after initial oficial responses.

 

"However, they may not want to give way any more. They certainly have the option to appeal the decision so the meeting last night may just have been a dress rehearsal."