In early October our Wiltshire Councillor Nick Botterill was approached by Marengo Communications, representing Cotswold Homes regarding a possible housing development on the edge of the village. Marengo asked him as to the likely reaction of residents and said they would be holding a public consultation meeting possibly within weeks. Needless to say Cllr Botterill was extremely circumspect with Marengo but pointed out that they would find likely strong resistance and it should also be borne in mind that Yatton Keynell had recently embraced the expansion of village by 38 new houses following good collaboration with both developers.
Cllr Botterill contacted me and we quickly identified the likely site, subsequently confirmed by Marengo, as being the field immediately adjacent to Jubilee Field. The image below was later provided by Marengo who advised that Cotswold Homes would be looking to build approximately 50 houses. To put this into context, within the main settlement, there are 319 properties after the completion of Drovers Green and Phillips Grove. An increase of 50 represents a further unplanned increase of 15.7%.
This approach by Cotswold Homes/Marengo is purely speculative and the site is not included for development in either the existing Wiltshire Core Strategy or the draft Local Plan which Wiltshire Council are in the process of passing and submitting to the Planning Inspector for approval. The site is detached from the village and is not adjacent to the Settlement Boundary.
I do not propose to rehearse the many arguments against this opportunist and speculative proposal on social media. However as Marengo mentioned holding a public meeting, no doubt preceded by a flyer in the post, both the Parish Council and Cllr Botterill felt it was important to let residents know the facts (such as we are aware). I will try to keep you appraised of any more details as we find them out and would be grateful to hear your views so that we can accurately convey them when/if Marengo inform us that they would like to have an initial meeting.
Alistair Parker
Chairman Yatton Keynell Parish Council
