Taylor Wimpey re-apply to build at Croft Road

Taylor Wimpey have submitted a planning application to build 62 houses to the west of Croft Road. If approved, the development would fill much of the space between East Wichel and the houses on Croft Road and Ambrose Road. The proposal claims that the first houses will be completed in 2018 or 2019, and the last by 2021. This would need Taylor Wimpey to build at a significantly faster rate than they did in East Wichel. By the developers’ own admission, the new proposal is unchanged from the application they submitted in 2014 then withdrew. They seem to have taken the lack of change from that plan as grounds for doing minimal consultation this time round.

As this is an outline application, many of the detailed plans included in the application are illustrative only — decisions about the appearance and size of the houses and landscaping will only be confirmed in a later ‘reserved matters’ application if this outline application is approved.

The proposed development is outside of the area designated for development in the Swindon Borough Council Local Plan and local councillors from both the Conservative and Labour parties have urged residents to object to the application. The proposal provides no community facilities for residents. Children wishing to play will be expected to find their way to play areas and fields nearby — facilities which the application itself criticises as being of low quality. The only access for motor vehicles will be from Croft Road, but there will be a pedestrian and cycle route along Ambrose Road.

Comments on the application, S/OUT/17/0882, can be submitted online. Those wishing to comment should do so by Tuesday 20 June. For maximum effectiveness, objections should show how the proposal fails to meet the policies in Swindon Borough Council’s Local Plan 2026 and the National Planning Policy Framework. However all comments on the application are helpful in reducing scope for the developer to appeal against whatever decision the council makes on the application.

Swindon Borough Council is expected to make a decision on the application by August this year.