One of the important things that we’re looking at as part of the Neighbourhood Plan review is whether to identify or allocate a site or sites in the town for future development.
Allocating sites
Neighbourhood Plans aren’t required to allocate sites (whereas Local Plans are). However, allocating sites is commonplace in neighbourhood plans now – and is an important and powerful way for a town (or parish) to influence where development happens (as well as what development looks like and what is needed as part of that development)
Essentially, our new Neighbourhood Plan could allocate the site or sites in Bradford on Avon that we feel are the most suitable for new homes and future development, helping to address local needs and opportunities.
One of the reasons this is important is because Wiltshire Council must plan ahead to address housing and employment needs across the county, including in Bradford on Avon.
New home numbers
Central government sets targets for how many new homes it expects to be built nationally, in a given period of time.
Wiltshire Council then works out where these new homes could go in Wiltshire – and identifies housing requirements for all the different towns and parishes across the county.
A Local Plan is the main planning document that a planning authority can use to guide development.
As the planning authority, Wiltshire Council had prepared a draft Local Plan to cover the period 2020 to 2038. This plan included the number of new homes that would be required in Bradford on Avon to 2038.
However, as of May 2026, the inspectors examining the draft Local Plan have set out two options for Wiltshire Council.
To either:
- withdraw the Local Plan from examination
Or:
- request that the Inspectors draft a final report (which would recommend non-adoption of the plan).
You can read more about this on Wiltshire Council’s website and on the Wiltshire Local Plan examination website.
Effectively, this means that Wiltshire Council is going to have to withdraw the draft Local Plan that it has been working on – and start work on a new Local Plan that looks further ahead (at least 15 years).
The new Local Plan will need to reflect and plan for higher housing targets across the county (meaning the housing requirement numbers in the draft plan are no longer relevant).
In the meantime, Wiltshire Council’s Core Strategy remains the adopted Local Plan for the county.
And together with other planning documents, including Bradford on Avon’s current Neighbourhood Plan, these make up the development plan for Wiltshire.
Whatever happens with Wiltshire Council’s Local Plan, there will be a requirement for development in Bradford on Avon.
Which is why thinking about where this development happens (and what it looks like) is an important part of the Neighbourhood Plan review.
Sites in Bradford on Avon
At the end of 2023, the town council issued a call for sites – asking for people to put forward sites that they wanted to be considered as part of the Neighbourhood Plan review (landowners ‘promote’ their sites).
Alongside this, Wiltshire Council has a Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment, or SHELAA. This identifies some of the same sites – but also some other sites.
In total, 22 potential sites were identified in Bradford on Avon as available for possible future development – and each site has now been independently assessed by a planning consultant called Aecom.
The sites have been given a red or amber rating based on a set of criteria – assessing their potential suitability for allocation in the new Neighbourhood Plan.
Aecom’s report will be included in the new Neighbourhood Plan as an appendix.
And the report will help to inform the new Neighbourhood Plan – although it’s important to note that the new Neighbourhood Plan can add to Aecom’s assessment with local knowledge and information – and that Aecom’s red or amber ratings give the Neighbourhood Plan a technical baseline of information.
Aecom’s report is the first step in a longer process of preparing the content of the new Neighbourhood Plan.
The question of whether to allocate a site or not – and why – will include the whole community. And we will be consulting with the wider community later in the year.
Before then, the topic groups supporting the Neighbourhood Plan review are looking at Aecom’s report and considering each site in the report in detail.
Key points
- the new Neighbourhood Plan doesn’t have to allocate or discount sites based on Aecom’s ratings
- Aecom’s report has no status other than that of detailing technical information about the areas of land in and around the town where landowners are ‘promoting’ the sites for allocation/development
- the new Neighbourhood Plan cannot allocate sites that are in the Green Belt. Much of the land around the town is protected by Green Belt policy as set by Wiltshire Council
- this has resulted in only 2 amber sites that can be considered for allocation (in the new Neighbourhood Plan)
You can read Aecom’s sites assessments report below.
Important documents