We are Halt Harnham Housebuilding - a group of ordinary residents coming together to oppose Wiltshire County Council's (WCC) plans to allow the development of 300+ newbuild homes on greenfield farmland – known as Sites 8 and 9 in the WCC Local Plan - land adjacent to the Lime Kiln Nature Reserve in between Odstock Road and Coombe Road south of Harnham. WCC is forcing through these plans without c
onsulting the residents of Harnham and Salisbury. We deserve transparency and meaningful engagement when it comes to matters that will directly impact us and future generations. What we are doing about, what we will continue to do…
* We are mobilising the community through petitions and lobbying activities and collaborating with other groups opposed to WCC's development plan for Salisbury.
* We are preparing to prove WCC’s plans are “unsound” with expert planning and legal advice that will provide compelling evidence to show that WCC has failed to properly consider the environmental, traffic, and infrastructure impacts of development on these sites.
* We will submit evidence to show that WCC has neglected to consider more suitable and sustainable ‘brownfield’ and ‘windfall sites’, and that it has failed to properly assess the housing needs for Salisbury or Salisbury’s own locally developed Neighbourhood Development Plan. What we stand for…
• We are NOT opposed to all development in Harnham on principle, but we DEMAND that the views of residents and the advice of Salisbury City's own experts must be heard above those of the Trowbridge-based planners.
• We insist that all more suitable BROWNFIELD and windfall sites are factored in first (including those owned by WCC) before precious greenfield land and habitats are concreted over and lost forever. WCC must not be allowed to ignore transformative opportunities like the re-development of Churchfields Industrial Estate and vacant city-centre retail sites indefinitely; such sites could provide all the housing that Salisbury needs most urgently without destroying greenfield land.
• We require that the TRAFFIC CHAOS, environmental impact, and the extra demand for crucial services created by these new proposed homes in Harnham be properly addressed and modelled on current and projected data - incorporating the impact of the Harnham sites already in development on Netherhampton Road.
• We seek to protect the unique character and identity of the villages of Harnham and South Salisbury from urban sprawl, and from RAT-RUN rush hour congestion.
• We will hold Wiltshire Council to account and ensure that the site selection and proposed housing allocation for Sites 8 and 9 have been rigorously researched, independently validated, and DEMOCRATICALLY consulted upon... and that they have not just been included in the Wiltshire Council's latest "Local" Plan for lazy expedience, or worse, for political bargaining. At a time of environmental catastrophe, global food insecurity, economic crisis, and intense pressure on our infrastructure and services, we call on everyone to not simply stand by whilst Wiltshire County Council allows the Earl of Pembroke, his Wilton Estate trading company, and their developer Wyatt Homes to profit by buying and selling Salisbury's greenbelt for development at the expense of the communities and the wildlife that call Harnham, the wider city, and the villages of South Salisbury home. The housing needs of Salisbury's residents can and must be met more creatively, more quickly, more sensitively, and more appropriately than this - but first, we must Halt Harnham Housebuilding!
