Wiltshire Council signs £75 million funding deal with Homes England

This significant source of funding is a major milestone in the Future Chippenham project, and ensures funding is available to contribute towards the cost of delivering the strategic infrastructure in and around Chippenham to support development if it comes forward.

Leader of Wiltshire Council, Cllr Philip Whitehead, said:

We are delighted to have signed a contract worth £75 million with Homes England, the government's housing agency. It has taken a lot of hard work throughout the year to get us to a stage, but we now have a significant amount of money in place to deliver infrastructure works should planning be granted for development to proceed.

The Future Chippenham proposals include the creation of a new distributor road to the east and south of Chippenham together with some improvements to J17 on the M4. We will be releasing information on the road route options early January 2021, ensuring the public can comment and shape the proposals at this stage.

The Housing Infrastructure Fund bid identified the opportunity to provide 7,500 homes at Chippenham to the period 2046. The level of growth in the town to 2036, including where new homes could be allocated, is being considered through the separate Wiltshire Local Plan review process. Any new housing allocations will be examined by an independent Inspector. Consultation on the Local Plan will be carried out early in the new year.