Sign up to online events and have your say about where future developments should take place in Wiltshire

Wiltshire communities, businesses, town and parish councils and other local stakeholders are invited to have their say on the possible sites that may be marked for growth in their area.

Wiltshire Council has to allocate sufficient land to satisfy housing and employment needs up to 2036, and is seeking the views of local communities and stakeholders to see if the suggested distribution of numbers across the county is correct, and which of the proposed sites are most suitable.

Feedback during this review consultation will help to shape the draft Local Plan, which will then be consulted on later in 2021. It Local Plan will be used to guide decisions on whether future planning applications for housing, infrastructure and land for employment can be granted.

The council will launch the consultation into its Wiltshire Local Plan review, and separately its Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan, from Wednesday 13 January 2021 until 11:59pm on Tuesday 9 March 2021.

As COVID restrictions mean that face-to-face events will not be possible during this review, the council is holding a series of online events for people to find out more about the Local Plan. Each event relates to a particular settlement, and there are also two events for rural areas, which include all other Wiltshire villages and settlements that are not covered in the other 15 events.

The online events, which will be held from 7pm-8pm on the dates shown are as follows:

• Planning for Calne, Monday 18 January
• Planning for Corsham, Tuesday 19 January
• Planning for Royal Wootton Bassett, Tuesday 19 January
• Planning for Chippenham, Wednesday 20 January
• Planning for Tidworth and Ludgershall, Wednesday 20 January
• Planning for Malmesbury, Thursday 21 January
• Planning for Amesbury, Thursday 21 January
• Planning for Marlborough, Monday 25 January
• Planning for Bradford on Avon, Monday 25 January
• Planning for Westbury, Tuesday 26 January
• Planning for Salisbury, Tuesday 26 January
• Planning for Devizes, Wednesday 27 January
• Planning for Trowbridge, Wednesday 27 January
• Planning for Melksham, Thursday 28 January
• Planning for Warminster, Thursday 28 January
• Planning for rural areas, Monday 1 February and Tuesday 2 February

Sign up for the online events here (opens new window), and you will be sent a link to your chosen online meeting in advance of the meeting. The consultation documents will be posted here before the consultation begins: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy-local-plan-review.

Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: "The Wiltshire Local Plan review consultation is an important opportunity for people to have their say on the future of possible areas of growth in their area before proposals are finalised in the draft Local Plan, later in 2021.

"We would usually hold a series of face-to-face engagement events for the Local Plan review, but we are unable to do so at present because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, I would urge as many people as possible to sign up for their local online event to find out more.

"Anyone who can't make their local online event will be able to view all the relevant documents online and complete the online consultation to have their say.

"As well as potential developments, the Local Plan review consultation also takes into account the importance of climate change, and this will also form a key part of the consultation.

"If anyone has any queries, they can speak to one of our planning officers about the Local Plan review."

Once this consultation is complete, a draft Local Plan will be produced, and people will be given another opportunity to take part in a consultation in late 2021. The plan will then be submitted to the Secretary of State in the third quarter of 2022, before it is examined by an inspector in late 2022, ahead of final adoption in 2023.

During the same consultation period, from Wednesday 13 January until Tuesday 9 March, the council is also consulting on the Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan.

In line with Government planning policy and legislation, the plan will look to allocate land for travellers in sustainable locations to meet their permanent and temporary accommodation needs up until 2036.

This consultation will help to shape a draft plan, which the council will then consult on again in autumn 2021, before the plan is submitted to Government, ahead of  public examination and then adoption of the plan in late 2022. To find out more about the Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan, people can go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-gypsy-travellers.