Over the last few years, there have been big improvements to Grafton Parish to make it a great place to live. Think of the difference that our Coronation Hall has made to the community, or the hard work put into restoring Wilton Windmill. Other volunteers have helped transform our broadband supply in Wexcombe and Marten, and now connect our homeworkers in meetings from Zurich to New York!
Most changes require planning and development approval with Wiltshire Council. For example, a proposed development for Machinery field in Grafton, supported by the Parish, was unsuccessful at planning stage. So we need to take a structured approach, and are working with Andrea Pellegram, an experienced manager and town planner.
Together we will be writing a Neighbourhood Plan for Grafton, thinking about changes that we can make together over the next 5 to 10 years. The work on Neighbourhood plan will create a kind of central blueprint for our work as a Council – this will lead to individual actions that will follow the usual planning processes.
Vision Meeting and Community Survey
To kick things off, we held a meeting open to all residents where gathered ideas and thoughts, which we called our “Vision Meeting” and was run with Parish Council Members. During the meeting we explained the approach we will follow and how we will take your ideas and recommendations into account – the discussion followed the broad topics shown below. This was followed by a Community Survey which gathered general feedback and on a number of topics highlighted in the vision meeting.
| Topic | What have we done |
| Living We think Grafton Parish is a wonderful place to live, however, there may be small changes we should consider. We think that by being proactive in our development plans, we can carefully develop the area, maintaining its character and charm. | In the past few years, and with the support of the community, we have proposed developments in a few places in the parish which were unsuccessful at the planning stage with Wiltshire Council. |
| Working The impact of COVID-19 will change the way many of us work, with more of us working from home. | Many homes in the parish now have fast broadband. Through a community application, we have fibre to the premise (1Gb/s) in Marten and Wexcombe. Another group are pursuing this for West and East Grafton. |
| Getting about Most of us travel by car rather than on public transport or by bicycle. For a rural area, the roads are fast. There are big changes coming to the way we travel, with no new petrol or diesel cars on sale from 2030. | Our speed watch scheme shows motorists are driving in an increasingly dangerous way through the parish, reaching 65mph in Grafton. There has been good redevelopment and improvement of tracks and paths. |
| Community Resources For a small community, we have a number of resources to feel really proud about. | With your help we have created the Coronation Hall, we have the excellent Sunflowers Nursery, the support groups for the COVID pandemic, our clubs, Wilton Windmill… |
| Environment We live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). There have been many improvements over the past few years. Protecting and supporting this is something we can all play a role in. | An impressive 25,000 acres of local farmland is part of the Southern Streams Initiative. This commits to enriching the landscape and biodiversity of our environment, whilst enhancing water quality in the rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. |
Housing and business development – call for sites
Grafton parish is subject to many planning constraints, and the Neighbourhood Plan will allocate land for certain forms of development. The aim is to carefully develop the area, maintaining its character and charm. The Neighbourhood Planning Group has developed a set of local design principles. Our community survey showed that there was overall support for allocating land for housing and for small commercial enterprises such as a shop or local businesses. The steering group are proposing to develop between 15-30 houses within the parish over the next 15 years.
The steering group has taken applications from local landowners for a number of potential sites to consider. These are currently being assessed, undertaking an environmental assessment together with considerations of national and local policies, together with Wiltshire Council.
Neighbourhood Planning Group
Wouldn’t it be great if you got to help shape the wonderful place in which you live and make it even better? Well… you do! A group of volunteers from the Parish are working with members of the Grafton Parish Council to form the Neighbourhood Planning group.
Meeting dates for 2025
- Monday February 24th
- Monday April 28th
- Monday June 23rd
- Monday September 1st
- Monday November 3rd
- Monday December 15th
Meetings are held at 7.30pm at Thatched Barn, Manor Farm Wilton. Chairman – Richard Pash
Questions or comments
If you have any questions, or matters to discuss with the steering group or their planning consultant please contact our Parish Clerk Maria Vonsova by email on clerk@graftonparish.com. We welcome new members to the Neighbourhood Planning Group.