Wiltshire Council still failing badly on 5 year housing land supply
By Trevor Carbin
The actual figure is 4.56 years. The failure to keep the supply up to date means that developers can choose where they want to build new housing in Wiltshire, with little the council can do to control them.
The five year supply also has to include a buffer, making it 5.25 years, so the margin of failure is significant and unlikely to be made up soon.
Because the balance is tilted in favour of developers, the views of town and parish councils, as well as local communities, will be largely ignored when the applications come in.
There's still protection for green belt and AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) land, or green fields far away from towns, but areas on the edges of our market towns are particularly vulnerable.
The person responsible for the failure is Cllr Toby Sturgis, cabinet member for planning in the WC Conservative administration.