HAWKFIELD HOMES Board Director, Vin Nguyen, has slammed Wiltshire Council for blocking progress on the development of the former Co-op site in Calne.
The site in Mill Street has been empty since April 2020 and has been an area for concern for vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
Hawkfield Homes Ltd first looked at the site in October 2021 and commissioned a design team. Their plans for the development included 26 apartments, townhouses and a commercial unit. The design team planned on setting the new building back along Mill Street ensuring the setting of the church was not harmed and a new area for the Pop-Up Park.
In January 2022, developers started discussions with Calne Town Council, arranging a design team to meet with them and run through the proposal.
A pre-planning applicaton was submitted to Wiltshire Council in February 2022 and by April that year, Wiltshire Council had responded to the application, outlining several changes that would need to be made.
Since then, Mr Nguyen from Hawkfield Homes feels they have been 'going round in circles' with a continuous stream of revisions, objections and the added hurdle of what he considers a 'serious staffing issue at Wiltshire Council' leading to numerous changes of Urban Design Officers dealing with the application. All the while, they continue to pay empty property rates for the site at £6,000 per month.
In August this year, developers were advised that Wiltshire Council are dealing with a large backlog and that their main focus of the application should be to resolve the urban design issues, however, the Urban Design Officer had since left the council's employment and a new person would need to be briefed. Hawkfield were promised a planning officer was drafting a report - to date no report has been forthcoming.
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said: “As the local planning authority, we recognise the importance of this site for Calne residents. The application has received significant objection from stakeholders and we have been working with the applicant to resolve these. We intend to continue working constructively with the applicant to bring this application to a conclusion in a timely manner.”
At a town council planning committee meeting on October 4, Calne town councillors voted unanimously to object to the scheme, voicing concerns that the amount of parking required for the development could not be accommodated and would become a 'burden on nearby residential areas'.
Mr Vin Nguyen commented: "This beautiful spot is now a magnet for anti social behaviour and a sight for sore eyes. It has been like this for some 4 to 5 years. The detailed Planning Application was submitted and validated since 1st July 2022. Prior to that it was presented to the Town Council at the beginning of 2022 and subsequently received support. The whole of 2022 and 2023 has been spent going back and forth, mass producing 3 sets of drawings and illustrations and re-consultation. The LPA still cannot conclude the application.
"It is a major planning application and rightly attracts lots of attention and inputs. It’s been put out to stakeholders consultation 3 times already and each time just when matters are dealt with another issue arises.
"It’s going round in circle and its conclusion is the very problem. So much so that one begins to doubt if this authority will determine it and the whole thing end up after 2.5 years for the government inspectors to determine.
"What a waste of tax payers monies that would be. I hope planning pragmatism comes into play or the site will sit in this defunct state until 2025/26."
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