CAUSE 2015

URGENT! Two development applications have been made by developers to Wiltshire Council, for the areas that the developers call Rawlings Green and Chippenham Riverside.  The public consultation period on the applications is currently open, and both close on March 4th  BUT we understand that any submissions made in the week after that will be accepted.

To respond, click on each of the links below and then click on the "Comment on this application" link in the top right-hand area of the planning webpage.

Rawlings Green planning application (No: 15/12351/OUT) can be read HERE on the Wiltshire Council Planning web portal but responses must now be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Chippenham Riverside planning application (No: 15/12363/OUT) can be read HERE on the Wiltshire Council Planning web portal, but responses must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  In either case, make sure that you quote the planning application number and include your name and address, otherwise your comments will be ignored.  Also ask for a receipt. Anyone in your household can make an individual response - they will all count.

Here are some possible objections to these applications:

Both sites are premature, because they are attempting to short-circuit the Examination in Public that is looking at the overall Chippenham situation. If they were both approved, then the Examination would effectively be redundant.

There are huge traffic problems with both applications. In the short term, each of them will put huge and unacceptable pressure on existing road systems - Rawlings Green on Station Hill, and Riverside on Stanley Lane, London Road and the  village roads on the East of the river.

Both applications make the false claim that an Eastern Link Road is Wiltshire Council policy.

The existing roads just will not be able to cope with the construction traffic and vehicles from the several hundred homes that will be built without any other exits.

Water run-off from Rawlings Green will put additional pressure on the River Avon, and Riverside was identified by the Council as the area most liable to flooding.

Each of the developments will have a huge negative impact on the Avon and Marden river valley landscape. Taken together they will effectively destroy it.

The Riverside application has no adequate transport plan.

The transport plan for Rawlings Green admits in paragraph 6.11.5 that “the New Road / Station Hill junction is forecast to experience capacity issues in all scenarios”. It is also limited to traffic to and from the proposed estate, and takes no account of traffic coming from the villages to the North, or from an Eastern Link road if it is built.

These are some of the headline issues. We will post more information on this page when we have it.

If you would like further information please look frequently at this website.  You could also email Cause2015 through the 'Support Us' menu above.

Thank you for your support. Please stop this devastation of the Avon and Marden river valleys.