Wichelstowe Development

One of the Great Western Community Forest’s current key roles is to respond to the Regional Spatial Strategy which indicates that Swindon should make provision for 35,000 new houses over the period 2006-2026. In response to this, the Great Western Community Forest team is working on a mitigation plan for the first of three new urban extensions to accommodate the extra houses. This includes the creation of woodland and other publicly accessible green space on council-owned farmland to the south of the Wichelstowe development area.

To achieve this, the Community Forest is working in partnership with Swindon Borough Council’s forward planners to ensure that Green Infrastructure Planning is embedded into the statutory planning system and that the principles and aspirations contained within the Forest Plan, will be used to shape the work.