Chippenham sites plan criticised by inspector

Wiltshire Council has agreed to review key elements of a draft site allocations plan for Chippenham after a planning inspector raised “fundamental concerns” over the adequacy of the site selection procedure adopted by the planning authority.At issue was the ranking exercise used, the adequacy of the sustainability appraisal and question marks over deliverability.The inspector said substantial further information and work was needed which meant the public examination should be suspended for perhaps six months.A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We followed an approach agreed by a previous core strategy inspector. However it became apparent early on that this inspector had concerns with elements of the process.