Bradford on Avon has joined forces with Chippenham to reject the Wiltshire Local Plan proposals.

Town councillors voted unanimously to condemn the plan at its full when they met this week.

Deputy mayor, Alex Kay said it lacked vision and was less of a plan, and more of a housing allocation document.

“For a good plan, you need to lay out a vision,” she said. “That was what was done for our neighbourhood plan and what we’ll do when we redo our neighbourhood plan will set out a vision of what housing we need, the type of housing and where that needs to be.”

Cllr Kay added that as a council they rejected all the sites for housing in the document, including the golf course and Woolley Allotments.

The main issues raised were that the town council believed house building on purely green sites undervalued Bradford’s natural environment and green spaces.

In 2019, the town council declared a climate emergency, intending to reach zero carbon by 2030. Under the local plan proposals, Cllr Kay said, not only would this not be achieved but it would be a step backwards.

“I think the plan across the whole county is just wrong,” she added, noting Wiltshire Council’s own declaration of a climate emergency.

It was pointed out the plan failed to mention a blue/green infrastructure or transport strategy and that it did not account for school capacity, traffic or the medical needs of residents.

Town council leader Dom Newton said local authorities must promote and not impact biodiversity, which the local plan ignored with the proposed sites.

Addressing commercial space, he said: “There’s an assumption we need less commercial space despite the fact that over the last year there’s been a move towards home and local working.

“There’s nothing in the plan to address that. At this stage, especially given the volumes of traffic the plans for other areas will create and drive through the middle of our town potentially, I don’t see that we have any option other than to follow Chippenham in rejecting it as a whole.”

Cllr Sarah Gibson told the some 50 members of the public attending the virtual meeting to look not just at the Bradford aspects of the plan, but at the plans for neighbouring areas.

“Also make the point that the transport strategy and the blue/green infrastructure strategy are not available for consultation,” she said.

“How can we be expected to make strategic decisions or indeed strategic comments when neither are available?

“Given the development around us the transport strategy is vital. Do look further than just the Bradford part because there’s an awful lot more to it that will affect us dramatically.”

Cllr Kay asked if councillors wanted her to add to response that the process of consultation was appalling and very non-inclusive, as well as Cllr Gibson’s points about the blue/green strategy.

Unanimously councillors voted to reject the local plan and condemn the consultation process.