Friday 2nd January 2026
From the Facebook page of EBBRAG (the East Boreham Business And Residents Action Group):
THE WARMINSTER NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN – EBBRAG HAS SERIOUS QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS WHICH WARMINSTER TOWN COUNCIL MUST ANSWER NOW!
(Written by an EBBRAG supporter, but more importantly, a resident of Warminster town)
Key PRINCIPLES of a Neighbourhood Plan
A Neighbourhood Plan should be a “community led’ process at every stage.
An approved Neighbourhood Plan, which identifies sites for development approved by a 50% local “yes” vote, offers a town some protection from “speculative” planning applications for a period of five years.
.A review of existing evidence should be undertaken including
Conservation area appraisals and statutory lists (listed buildings, historic, environmental record and scheduled ancient monuments)
Asking consultants to produce options before consulting the community is poor practice.
(taken from guidance on good practice in relation to developing a neighbourhood plan ‘Quick Guide to Neighbourhood Plans’) Ref : Dave Chetwyn MA., MRTPI, IHBC, Finest.M- Managing Director of Urban Vision Enterprise CIC and a Design Council CABE Built Environment expert. Other roles (present and former) ; Planning Chair with Civic Voice, Vice Chair of the National Planning Forum, Vice Chair of the Historic Towns Forum, Planning Adviser to Locality and Heritage Specialist on Crossrail , Head Planning Aid England, UK Chair of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He has advised and participated in various Government groups, reviews and Parliamentary select committees on planning, heritage, urban design, economic development, state aid and community engagement. Chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, full member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and a fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management.
Our fundamental issues:
– We feel decisions, well intentioned though they may have been, have largely been made behind closed doors and without meaningful reference to the community of Warminster.
– Bellway Homes are poised to submit a “speculative” planning application.
– In putting forward Home Farm as a potential site for development, historic barriers to building there for environmental, heritage and practical reasons have not been given sufficiently thorough consideration. The site has been turned down several times previously for very sound reasons.
– If allowed to go ahead, development of Home Farm land will forever change an area much loved and used by residents from across the town and wider afield by ramblers and hikers, dog walkers, horse riders, cyclists, historians, nature lovers and people who just enjoy the sensational views from Battlesbury, Middle and Scratchbury Hills.
On their website, the Town Council describe the Neighbourhood Plan process as “a community -led project by Warminster Town Council and local volunteers to shape the future development in Warminster.”
“The neighbourhood Plan gives you, the community who live here and who know Warminster best, a real voice.”
The legal point “Community engagement is a requirement of planning legislation, including for Neighbourhood Plans. It is essential in developing consensus and creating community support. Failure to engage communities at an early stage is one of the main causes of conflict later in the planning process.” Ref : Dave Chetwyn
TIMELINE
The current plan – which is still legally valid was made in 2016 and is now being reviewed. Work on this review began as far back as 2022. This week, whilst actively “researching” the neighbourhood plan, I came across an old Facebook feed @JohnBakeNewsW1:
The revised plan will need to look ahead, as far as 2036, and address important local issues.
During 2022, members of the Warminster community volunteered to support the town council, and other professionals, in beginning to update the Neighbourhood Plan.
As we move into 2023, we still need the local community to be fully involved and help ensure the Neighbourhood Plan reflects your views.
Interestingly, there were 0 comments in response to this post!
Summer 2025
As someone who is not a regular Facebook user, I did not become aware of anything to do with the Neighbourhood Plan until this summer, when my husband stumbled across a reference to an “informal consultation” about sites being proposed for housing development. By this time an original FIFTEEN sites had already been reduced to just THREE, for residents to comment on : Home Farm/Land East of Dene, Yew Tree public house and Ashley Combe.
This was about a week before the deadline for people to submit their thoughts online. We have lived in Warminster for 10 years, go into town regularly, use the library and yet were completely unaware of any Neighbourhood Plan. This gives rise to the questions:
How serious were the Town Council about the Neighbourhood plan being “community led”?
How proactive and effective have they really been at publicising and engaging the local community?
They may have been well intentioned but the reality is, many people didn’t know about it.
We set about informing as many people as we could about this informal consultation, as quickly as we could, including residents and local businesses. It was clear that this all came as a bolt out of the blue for most of the people we contacted – including the Manager / Director of Bishopstrow Hotel – a significant employer and local business adjacent to the proposed site.
The results ultimately revealed that 61% of respondents did not want building at Home Farm.
August 2025
Following the results of this informal consultation, members of EBBRAG were invited to a meeting hosted by the Town Council, ostensibly to raise concerns and ask questions.
Despite being told by representatives of the Town Council and their team of consultants (incidentally paid for with public money), that their aim was to be open and transparent, we came away with many questions unanswered and a distinct feeling that the decision to promote Home Farm as a site for development had pretty much been made already (albeit, not “officially”).
We also discovered at the meeting that the Ashley Coombe site had been removed from the Neighbourhood Plan process and with Yew Tree public house only offering the possibility of a build of 2 or 3 homes, the Home Farm site was left as the only remaining site.
This does give rise to another question:
Why were other sites not brought back in for consideration at this stage?
November 2025
Bellway Homes launched an online public consultation, with a daytime “drop in” session for residents of Warminster to comment on their proposal for development of land at Home Farm, following a broad leaflet drop to households across the town.
Their outline plan is pretty much the same as the plan we were shown at the meeting in August by the Town council, just with added detail relating to the specific type and layout of the dwellings.
At the “drop in”, Bellway Homes were quite open about the fact that they had already engaged in a pre- planning exercise and were intending to enter a full “speculative” application in early 2026, effectively putting them outside the Neighbourhood plan process.
Incidentally, the developer – Rubix- interested in the Ashley Coombe site also initiated a consultation about their proposed development at about the same time.
This gives rise to the questions:
What protection does the Neighbourhood Plan process really give against “speculative” applications by developers? Does it unintentionally encourage them?
Going forward to 2026
1. It is highly likely that Bellway Homes will submit a formal planning application for the Home Farm site early to mid 2026.
It is perhaps worth mentioning they do not have a great reputation as a builder, both in terms of the quality of the houses they build, nor in their delivery of agreed mitigations for reducing identified potentially negative “impacts” of their developments.
IT IS VITAL TO FORMALLY OBJECT TO THIS DEVELOPMENT IF YOU ARE AGAINST IT, EITHER INDIVIDUALLY OR BY PUTTING YOUR NAME BEHIND EBBRAG OBJECTIONS.
2. The official public referendum for/against the Neighbourhood Plan is likely to be early 2026.
IT IS VITAL TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD BY EXERCISING YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.
PLEASE NOTE, EBBRAG IS NOT a small group of residents who just object to a development “in their back yards”. IT IS a group of people who care passionately about the potential scarring of, and impact forever on, one of Warminster town’s most beautiful landscapes and historically sensitive areas, currently enjoyed by many residents from across the town and visitors alike.
EBBRAG would love to hear from you, contact EBBRAG:
email: info@ebbrag.com
website: www.ebbrag.com
