West Wiltshire District Council has welcomed changes to the new Regional Spatial Strategy, which will be replacing both regional planning guidance and county structure plans.

The authority had lobbied the South West Regional Assembly to recognise the importance of market towns and to share housing allocation across the region, rather than just focusing on the large towns and cities.

Options put forward for consultation in late 2004 suggested that future development would be concentrated in these principal urban areas.

Cllr Sarah Content, leader of the district council, said: "We expressed our very strong concerns about the original proposals during the consultation, and I am delighted that this latest draft reflects the views that we put forward.

"The role of Trowbridge as a strategically significant town within the network of western Wiltshire towns has been recognised, and the A350 has been acknowledged as an important intra-regional route."

Within the new strategy is a requirement for 550 new homes to be built in West Wiltshire every year from 2006 to 2016, dropping to 500 per year until 2026. The original option was for this requirement to be just 355 per year.

Although the draft strategy has now been referred to the Government and is likely to go through public inquiry in the next year, some issues remain for West Wiltshire.

These include: clarity on how the district will work with neighbouring authorities and the Regional Assembly to bring forward planning policy, concerns about proposed changes to the regional rail franchises, and remaining uncertainty over funding for a Westbury bypass.