NEW CONSULTATION

Spout Lane, Seend

Public Consultation: September/October 2025

Land west of Spout Lane, Seend – development proposal by Gaiger Brothers Ltd

Thank you for taking part in our public consultation event, which ran from Wednesday, 24th September to Wednesday, 8th October 2025. This consultation is now closed, and we are reviewing the feedback received.

Welcome to our public consultation event, and thank you for taking the time to attend or view these proposals online. We are sharing with you our plans for a housing development of up to 20 new homes at land west of Spout Lane, Seend. This follows our initial contact with Seend Parish Council and attendance at the July parish council meeting: minutes from this meeting are available here.

We have no fixed view on potential site layouts or design details at this stage, but we can confirm we are looking at a core development area of approximately 1.5 acres, as indicated on these plans. We anticipate housing numbers could be up to, but not more than 20 new homes, including provision of affordable housing in line with Wiltshire Council’s prevailing planning policy and future housing requirements.

The objectives of this consultation exercise were to:

Explain the broad principles of why we are proposing a new housing development at Seend and this specific site.
Provide examples of recent Gaiger Brothers development proposals across the local area.
Report on the findings of site surveys undertaken to identify key site constraints and opportunities, and inform how many houses could potentially be delivered at this site.
Inform our assessment of local housing needs and/or local preferences in respect of house sizes, tenure (open market and affordable housing) and/or homes for any specific local needs, potentially including people wishing to downsize.
Outline what construction materials, sustainable technologies, landscaping and ecological measures could be incorporated into a development proposal and opportunities to deliver associated community benefits.
Seek feedback from the local community.

Following our attendance at the July parish council meeting, we are aware of concerns raised by a small number of residents that this proposal is the start of a much larger housing scheme extending across the northern edge of Seend.

We would like to take this opportunity to confirm that this is not what is proposed – Gaiger Brothers Ltd have a contract with the site landowners to explore the development opportunity as outlined to you here. Our proposal would include rounding off the eastern edge of the village, resulting in a modest extension of additional housing in line with the identified Wiltshire Council housing requirements.

How we progress following this event, including preparing a detailed site layout and confirming architectural, engineering and landscaping details, remains subject to review of any community feedback and our ongoing assessments.

About us

Gaiger Brothers Ltd

Gaiger Brothers Ltd is a local family-owned business based in Devizes, who pride itself on being an open and honest developer, adopting a personal, straightforward approach, working closely with landowners and local communities.

A contractual arrangement with the landowner has been set out, which requires Gaiger to promote this land west of Spout Lane for a housing development. This community consultation event forms part of our site appraisal stage, which, alongside site surveys and assessments, will help inform our ideas for the final number, type and mix of new homes that could be appropriate for this site. Following any future prospective planning consent, Gaiger would then purchase the land before delivering the development proposal.

We take care in how we engage with the local community and use feedback to inform our proposals. We recognise that new housing developments across our local communities can often raise concerns around both the principle (e.g. why here?) and details (e.g. impacts on immediate neighbours, traffic and flooding concerns); our aim through this consultation is to provide you with information to inform your views and to listen to your feedback.

Our recent experience of promoting sites in local villages includes our Townsend Farm, Poulshot proposal, where our engagement with the parish council, site neighbours and wider community enabled us to secure a consensus of local support before securing a detailed planning consent for 14 new homes, including 4 affordable homes, now under construction. Further details are available at – https://gaigerbros.co.uk/project/townsend-farm-yard/

It is too early to be clear on what the new homes on this site will look like; however, the images shown are computer-generated images (CGIs) of our Poulshot scheme, designed by the same architect we plan to work with here, and are provided to give an illustration of the developments that we are delivering in the local area.

Planning Policy Context

Planning policy is outlined at national and local levels, with an extensive and complex collection of policy requirements and guidance directing where, how and when new housing proposals should come forward.

Recently, there have been several significant changes impacting future requirements for new housing, in part due to the 2024 change in Government, but also through the natural cycle of updates to local policy, including the requirement for Wiltshire Council to have an up-to-date Local Plan.

Wiltshire Council does not currently have an up-to-date Local Plan, although the emerging Local Plan is programmed for independent examination later this year and is currently expected to be formally adopted in 2026.

As a designated ‘Large Village’, the emerging Local Plan identifies a residual housing requirement of 23 new homes to be delivered in Seend, in the period between April 2022 and 2038. Taking into account new planning consents for 8 new homes since April 2022, we have calculated that there remains an unmet housing requirement for 15 new homes.

The Seend Community Land Trust ‘Hook Hollow’ development at Seend Cleeve was consented in 2021 and has been taken into account when calculating this unmet housing need.

In addition to this identified need, because of a significant (approximately 85%) uplift in housing requirements across the Wiltshire Council area due to changes brought forward by central government, there is a requirement for Wiltshire Council to undertake a further review of their new Local Plan to identify how this additional housing requirement will be met. It is likely that ‘Large Villages’, including Seend, could be expected to accommodate additional housing over and above the currently identified residual housing requirement.

The Seend Parish Neighbourhood Plan covers the period 2020 – 2030, prepared and approved by the local community, setting out a Vision, Objectives and a range of Policies identified in respect of:

Conserving the Distinctive Qualities of our Built and Natural Environment
Landscape and Green Infrastructure
Community Facilities
Supporting Appropriate Future Development
Highways and Traffic

The table on page 20 – see image provided – illustrates how the policies flow from the identified Vision and meet the Objectives of the Neighbourhood Plan.

We have reviewed the Neighbourhood Plan and extensive ‘Evidence Base’, including a comprehensive suite of supporting reports. This included a comprehensive ‘Site Assessment Report’ (2020), which reported on a 2-staged assessment:

examining 16 potential development sites across the parish area
progressing 9 sites to a Stage 2 assessment, considering site-specific constraints
confirming that 5 of these sites were not considered suitable for housing development
confirming that 4 of these sites were potentially suitable for small-scale housing:
- Site 6: Park Farm, Seend Cleeve– subsequently brought forward by the Seend Community Land Trust
- Sites 7 & 10 in Sells Green
- Site 15 Land behind Cooks Close, in Seend – the site we are now proposing, as land west of Spout Lane, concluding that:
  - “There may be limited potential for partial development of this site for housing, as it is adjoining and well-related to the large village of Seend. Although the site has heritage and landscape constraints, these could potentially be addressed with a sensitive development scheme that includes key mitigating features such as those outlined above.
    Access onto the High Street from Spout Lane has poor visibility, and further highway assessment would be required to explore options for safe access to the site. Potentially suitable to take forward in the Neighbourhood Plan and/or as a rural exception site.”

The Neighbourhood Plan was prepared prior to the emerging Wiltshire Council Local Plan, and at a time when there was no identified ‘need’ for new housing. This planning context has now changed with a calculated residual requirement of 15 new homes in the period through to 2038.

As acknowledged in Section 6 of the Neighbourhood Plan, a review of the Neighbourhood Plan was anticipated to be required once any reviewed Local Plan is adopted. At the time of writing, we understand that the Seend Parish Council are in the process of initiating this review.

We believe that a sensitively scaled and designed development proposal on this land to the west of Spout Lane could meet this requirement, as previously concluded by the Neighbourhood Plan ‘Site Assessment Report’ (2020). This would also result in a natural rounding off of the village built area as it extends further east continuing incremental growth illustrated by the historical mapping extracts shown from 1924, 1972: extending to include The Lye and also Three Ways adjacent to the site, 1989: addition of Cooks Close and 2003: the further addition of The Hawthorns and Linden House adjacent to Three Ways.

Proposal

About the site

We have no fixed view on a site layout or design details at this stage, but we can confirm we are looking at a core development area of approximately 1.5 acres, as indicated on the Indicative Development Proposals plan.

Landscape planting (e.g. additional trees, potential area of wildflower meadow) and drainage proposals (e.g. attenuation pond or swales) may extend north-east of the Public Right of Way to maximise opportunities to deliver biodiversity improvements alongside a robust, sustainable drainage scheme, maximising resilience to future climate change, albeit these details remain subject to further site assessments.

We anticipate housing numbers could be up to, but not more than 20 new homes, including provision of affordable housing in line with Wiltshire Council’s emerging planning policy and future housing requirements.

Indicative Development Proposals:

The Indicative Development Proposals plan provides an initial outline of the broad development concept, including:

The location and extent of the core development area
Landscape planting along the southern and western site boundaries to respect existing neighbouring amenity; the positioning and detailed design of new homes and garden areas will also need to carefully respond to existing neighbouring residents and conform to adopted local design guidance
Landscape planting to create a robust northern boundary to the development, and alongside the retained Public Right of Way along the eastern development boundary
The proposed access location is broadly opposite the access to Egypt Farmyard; access to the retained farmland to the north is expected to be via a new field gate located directly from Spout Lane or via the site access road (see blue arrows on plan)
Accommodation of a foul pumping station, expected to be required to enable the connection to the existing Wessex Water foul sewer east of Spout Lane within the extents of Egypt Farmyard: this would be designed, located and screened in accordance with the relevant technical design standards

How we progress following this event, including developing a detailed site layout and confirming architectural, engineering and landscaping details, remains subject to review of any community feedback and ongoing assessments.

A number of site surveys and assessments have been undertaken, with some ongoing, to explore site constraints. The key findings from these are outlined below:

Topic	Flood Risk and Drainage
Work completed to date	– Early ground investigations have confirmed over-winter groundwater depths ranging across the site, and infiltration across the site is limited by the ground conditions. – Site and drainage design will respond to this information and will need to meet current detailed standards, including accommodating a 1 in 100-year weather event plus 45% to take account of future climate change. The rate that surface water can leave the site post-development will also be restricted to existing greenfield rates. – We anticipate a suite of drainage treatments will be used across the site, likely to include a combination of rainwater harvesting, pervious paving, rain gardens and swales to provide the required amount of storage capacity whilst also integrating with landscape and biodiversity improvements to maximise any ecological benefits – Due to existing site levels and the position and depth of the local foul sewers, preliminary surveys have indicated that a Foul Pumping Station will be required; this is indicated on the concept plan with the confirmed requirement for this and associated detailed design to follow, subject to further survey and engineering advice.
What issues and/or opportunities have been identified	– Early ground investigations have confirmed over-winter groundwater depths ranging across the site, and infiltration across the site is limited by the ground conditions. – Site and drainage design will respond to this information and will need to meet current detailed standards, including accommodating a 1 in 100-year weather event plus 45% to take account of future climate change. The rate that surface water can leave the site post-development will also be restricted to existing greenfield rates. – We anticipate a suite of drainage treatments will be used across the site, likely to include a combination of rainwater harvesting, pervious paving, rain gardens and swales to provide the required amount of storage capacity whilst also integrating with landscape and biodiversity improvements to maximise any ecological benefits – Due to existing site levels and the position and depth of the local foul sewers, preliminary surveys have indicated that a Foul Pumping Station will be required; this is indicatively shown on the concept plan with the confirmed requirement for this and associated detailed design to follow, subject to further survey and engineering advice.

Example of shallow drainage swale running along footpath and new landscape planting:

Topic	Heritage and Archaeology
Work completed to date	Heritage: – The proposals would remove a small part of a field from the surroundings of the Conservation Area. However, the new development would be in keeping with the pattern of development within Seend, remaining at the top of the ridge and not extending to the slopes further to the north, consistent with the historic settlement pattern of the settlement. – A comprehensive site landscape strategy, including screening around the proposed development, is required to preserve the open setting on the approach towards Egypt Farm along the Public Right of Way and ensure an appropriate design response to the adjacent Conservation Area. – The proposed development should be focused on the western side of the study site, forming an appropriately scaled extension to the existing built form, and deliberately set back from the eastern site boundary. – Design of the buildings will need to ensure that they are in keeping with other buildings within Seend, a key priority as design work progresses. – The remaining built heritage assets in the surrounding area would not be harmed by the proposed development due to distance from the study site and intervening vegetation and buildings. Archaeology: – There are no known heritage assets recorded on the study site; however, an undated enclosure is recorded immediately to the north of the study site. The recent geophysical survey has confirmed this is outside the proposed development area. Archaeological remains of any local significance can be adequately mitigated by a staged programme of archaeological works secured through planning. Condition of Grade II Listed Egypt Farmhouse: – The existing Farmhouse is not part of this development proposal, and together with the yard area remains in active use, associated with the ongoing landowner’s farming business. – Notwithstanding, a condition survey and heritage assessment of the existing Farmhouse has been undertaken, confirming that the condition of the external envelope of the building is considered to be fair and the building is not at risk. The roofing works carried out in the latter part of the 20th Century continue to keep the building fabric dry, and this is reflected by the condition of the internal finishes. The building is partially occupied, and there is a clear intention to repair the building when funds permit and use the building as a dwelling for the family.
What issues and/or opportunities have been identified	Heritage: – The proposals would remove a small part of a field from the surroundings of the Conservation Area. However, the new development would be in keeping with the pattern of development within Seend, remaining at the top of the ridge and not extending to the slopes further to the north, consistent with the historic settlement pattern of the settlement. – A comprehensive site landscape strategy, including screening around the proposed development, is required to preserve the open setting on the approach towards Egypt Farm along the Public Right of Way and ensure an appropriate design response to the adjacent Conservation Area. – The proposed development should be focused on the western side of the study site, forming an appropriately scaled extension to the existing built form, and deliberately set back from the eastern site boundary. – Design of the buildings will need to ensure that they are in keeping with other buildings within Seend, a key priority as design work progresses. – The remaining built heritage assets in the surrounding area would not be harmed by the proposed development due to distance from the study site and intervening vegetation and buildings. Archaeology: – There are no known heritage assets recorded on the study site; however, an undated enclosure is recorded immediately to the north of the study site. The recent geophysical survey has confirmed this is outside the proposed development area. Archaeological remains of any local significance can be adequately mitigated by a staged programme of archaeological works secured through planning. Condition of Grade II Listed Egypt Farmhouse: – The existing Farmhouse is not part of this development proposal, and together with the yard area remains in active use, associated with the ongoing landowner’s farming business. – Notwithstanding, a condition survey and heritage assessment of the existing Farmhouse has been undertaken, confirming that the condition of the external envelope of the building is considered to be fair and the building is not at risk. The roofing works carried out in the latter part of the 20th Century continue to keep the building fabric dry, and this is reflected by the condition of the internal finishes. The building is partially occupied, and there is a clear intention to repair the building when funds permit and use the building as a dwelling for the family.

Topic	Landscape & Visual Impact
Work completed to date	– Preliminary assessment of the site
What issues and/or opportunities have been identified	– The site is not directly affected by any of the key views identified in the Seend Parish Local Key Views Report (2020), although intervisibility with Egypt Farmhouse and the effect on the landscape setting of the Conservation Area are key issues to be considered. – The development area should be limited to avoid excessive encroachment into the open countryside. – There are opportunities to soften the currently hard urban edge boundaries of the existing settlement. – A carefully considered landscape strategy, recognising the site’s rural location, should enhance the landscape setting of heritage assets and improve local pedestrian links. It is recommended to include appropriate hedgerow and tree planting within the site, including: – Reinforcing existing southern and western site boundaries, helping to mitigate impacts on neighbouring properties. – Improve the existing settlement edge by creating a robust northern site boundary with planting to the east, along the line of the existing Public Right of Way.

Topic	Highway safety and transport impacts
Work completed to date	– Data collection to confirm existing traffic volumes and speeds on Spout Lane, review recent road safety data, highway boundary records and supporting Neighbourhood Plan reports. – Preliminary assessment and advice in relation to site access and transport impacts.
What issues and/or opportunities have been identified	– Site ownership and highway boundary records confirm access from Spout Lane is achievable in line with prescribed highway design standards. -We are aware of concerns locally regarding traffic speeds, HGV routing and highway safety across the local area. Our early assessments have identified no material safety issues that would preclude delivery, including site access and visibility requirements at the proposed Spout Lane site, and the junction of Spout Lane with the A361 High Street. – The existing Public Right of Way across the field will be retained. – There is also the opportunity to deliver a section of 45m of footway on Spout Lane, within highway land connecting the PROW as it exits onto Spout Lane at the proposed site access to connect with the existing footway on the High Street; this would improve local pedestrian connectivity and highway safety in line with the Neighbourhood Plan Policy SP5 (and associated Figure 12). – The traffic impacts of the proposals are not expected to have a material long term impact on local roads beyond the initial construction period due to the small number of new homes proposed; review of journey to work data indicates that the majority of trips (approx. 56%) would route south east via Spout Lane and the A361 Seend Hill away from the village toward Devizes, just under a third (approx 29%) would route west along the A361 High Street through the village centre onward toward Trowbridge, with the remaining trips (approx 14%) routing north along Spout Lane to the A365 Bath Road toward Melksham. – We recognise that Spout Lane is not designed to accommodate signifcant volumes of traffic, our initial estimates based on industry standard trip generation data and early trip distribution analysis indicate the peak hour development traffic along Spout Lane would be as little as 1-2 trips in the peak hours and as little as 12-15 trips over the 12-hour period between 07.00 and 19.00 on a typical weekday. Impacts on the A361 are expected to be less than 1%. Further detailed data analysis will follow as part of a detailed Transport Statement to follow in due course.

Expected development traffic distribution, based on journey to work Census data analysis:

Topic	Ecology
Work completed to date	– Site walkover and preliminary site appraisal – Reptile surveys ongoing
What issues and/or opportunities have been identified	– A preliminary site survey has been undertaken, confirming there are limited ecological constraints to development. – Reptile surveys around the site boundaries are being undertaken as a precautionary measure; these remain ongoing at the current time. – Our initial assessments have confirmed it will be possible to improve on-site biodiversity as part of any development proposal in comparison to the existing/baseline site conditions, and in accordance with current policy requirements to deliver a minimum 10% Biodiversity Net Gain or emerging policy requirements to achieve 20% betterment.

Identifying Local Housing Needs

The residual housing requirement for Seend – as explained within the Planning Policy Context section – is currently for 15 additional new homes.

This does not provide any clear or direct indication as to what type of housing is required in Seed, for example:

Housing tenure: e.g. whether new homes should be available for open-market sale or provided as formal affordable housing (rent or shared ownership, typically managed by a Registered Provider)
Housing size: typically expressed by the number of bedrooms
Housing for any specific demographic group: e.g. first-time buyers, families, people wishing to downsize

The Seend Parish Neighbourhood Plan was informed by a Parish Housing Needs Survey completed by Wiltshire Council back in 2019. This is now out of date, and at present, it is unclear how Wiltshire Council are currently supporting local communities with similar surveys. Any new survey would typically be in response to a request from a local Parish Council or a local Community Land Trust.

From our review of available data, the Neighbourhood Plan and supporting information, and coupled with initial comments raised when we attended the July 2025 parish council meeting, our preliminary views are as follows:

There appears to be an unmet demand for people wishing to downsize, but remain living in the local community
- From a review of Census data, the proportion of people aged 65 and over has risen from 22% in 2001 to 30% in 2021
- In the same time period, the proportion of ‘economically active’ people has reduced from 67% to 59%
There appears to be an unmet demand for more Affordable Homes. Information received from the Wiltshire Council’s ‘Housing Enabling Team’ indicates that there is a current identified need for smaller 1- and 2-bedroom affordable homes in the locality
- There has been a lack of new ‘affordable homes’ delivered in Seend itself (noting the new homes at Hook Hollow in Seend Cleeve delivered by the Seend Community Land Trust)
- Over recent decades, when coupled with the effects of ‘Right to Buy’ reducing the amount of existing Affordable Housing stock and new planning consents typically being single open market units, this has contributed to reducing the proportion of available Affordable Housing

We believe a housing development here could positively respond to this by providing homes designed to suit down-sizing requirements and the provision of at least 30% affordable housing.

Design and building approach, including architectural details:

Whilst we are at an early stage in the design process, we propose that each house will benefit from a low-carbon and renewable energy supply and will be resilient to future climate change, with features likely to include:

Traditional architectural design in accordance with Policies (SP1, SP2, SP13) of the Neighbourhood Plan and the Wiltshire Council Design Guide
Materials used will reflect local heritage, predominantly red brick, albeit with combinations of red brick and stone, clay tiles and natural slate roof coverings and the use of high-quality hard landscaping and boundary treatments, complemented by appropriate soft landscaping incorporating indigenous tree and hedge planting
Air source heat pumps to provide heat to buildings
Solar photovoltaic panels on each home, as well as high levels of insulation to minimise energy consumption
Provide electric vehicle charging at each property
Embed materials and waste management measures into the construction and operational phases of the development
Landscape planting to create an attractive development, and incorporating opportunities to enhance biodiversity and amenity value

Following your feedback, we expect to develop a site layout before undertaking detailed design work, looking at building elevations, floor plans and material details to embed these initial ideas into a fully designed scheme.

Potential community benefits

Beyond the delivery of new homes, a development proposal at this location also provides the opportunity to support improvements to the local community, which we believe could include:

A section of 45m of new footway within highway land on Spout Lane connecting the PROW as it exits onto Spout Lane to the existing footway on the High Street; this would improve local pedestrian connectivity and highway safety in line with the Neighbourhood Plan Policy SP5 (and associated Figure 12)
Payment of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) contributions – this will amount to approximately £125 per m2 of new open market housing, paid directly to Wiltshire Council, with 25% of the monies being returned to Seend Parish Council to fund provision, improvement and maintenance of infrastructure in the local community
If additional requirements or infrastructure improvements directly related to the development are identified, these could be secured through any future planning decisions

Thank you for taking part in our public consultation event, which ran from Wednesday, 24th September to Wednesday, 8th October 2025. This consultation is now closed, and we are reviewing the feedback received.