Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

When will developers stop pushing their luck?
Redrow was told by WWDC planning officers that the application would be refused if they didn't withdraw voluntarily. Key issues, according to planners, were the inappropriate location of high density development on the site, its failure to relate to the lower density development proposed on the master plan and to existing dwellings in the area, lack of garden provisions, lack of soft landscaping and too much hardstanding.

Taken together these factors reinforced the tacky nature of the proposed development and its poor integration with the existing houses.

Whilst this is a victory for common sense, it makes you wonder why the WWDC planners have recommended similar 'rubbish' applications (such as Blue Hills off Devizes Road) for approval.

The application, as it stood, was a typlically badly designed 'profit booster' and would have made the access and parking problems which already exist in the area even worse.

At their recent meeting, Hilperton Parish Council had objected to the application which would have forced it to go to the WWDC planning committee for a decision if the planning officer had been minded to approve it. This decision by WWDC means that won't now be necessary.

Let's hope that Redrow see commonsense, and come back with a more appropriate scheme - or are we living in a fools paradise to think that way?