Trowbridge Town Council

The Town Council is consulted on all planning applications relating to the town which are submitted to the Planning Authority Wiltshire Council. These are considered by members of the council at meetings of the Town Development Committee every three weeks. Details are available by following this link to our Committees section.

The committee is also consulted on a number of other matters:

· Street Closure proposals

· Street Trading applications

· Tree Preservation Orders

· Advertising applications

· Listed Building applications

· Conservation areas

· Highway improvements

· Changes to parking regulations

Growth Of The Town

The Town Council is also interested in the strategic development of the town and has adopted a strategy which includes principles which will inform the town council's response to any proposals put forward for inclusion in the Wiltshire Council Core Strategy. This document which is currently being developed and should be ready for public consultation in 2011 will decide the levels of growth (housing and employment land) and locations for growth in the period up to 2026.

The current Local Plan accounts for housing growth of around 300 houses per annum in the Trowbridge area. The Town Council supports a level of growth for the future of 300 houses or more, so long as it can be located in accordance with the adopted town council strategy. Within the current Local Plan a number of areas are allocated for development and now have planning permission for around 1000 homes. The majority of these are to the East and South East of the town, to both the north and south of Green Lane and at South View Farm.

Town Centre

The Town Council works with Transforming Trowbridge to realise the development of the Town Centre to provide a full range of retail, leisure and commercial services, accessible to all. Recent developments have been Sainsbury's supermarket, located to the north of the town centre and the Gateway on Bythesea Road, home to NEXT, Brantano, New Look, Boots and Argos. The town council's own contribution to Transforming Trowbridge is the redevelopment of the Civic Hall to provide a new Civic Centre. Wiltshire Council is also embarking on a project to refurbish County Hall, which will be the new home of the library. Plans for a new leisure centre are also at an early stage and due to be built in 2017.

A number of other key development sites are also available around the town and it is hoped that a new cinema will be provided on one of these.

Wiltshire Core Strategy Consultation

The Town Council has recently responded to Wiltshire Council's consultation on the development of the Core Strategy, which will identify locations, types and levels of development for the period up to 2026.

The Town Council has generally supported the suggestions, which include Trowbridge as a focus for continued significant levels of development of new homes, as well as employment sites and new services and facilities in vacant town centre sites.

The Town Council's comments and all other comments on the plan can be found on the Wiltshire Council consultation web-site:

http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/spatial_planning/wcs/wcsconsult2011