The major redevelopment plans for the former Bowyer’s factory in Trowbridge are set to reconsidered by Wiltshire Council at an upcoming planning meeting.

Developer Innox Mills’ hybrid planning bid was first submitted to the council in April 2021 and proposed up to 284 new homes on the derelict site, which closed in 2008.

The plans included a convenience store and new commercial space.

Councillor Stewart Palmen, the leader of Trowbridge Town Council, described the plans as a “key milestone in the redevelopment of Trowbridge as the County Town of Wiltshire.”

He said: “The plans will help alleviate the housing crisis without destroying green fields and provide new life for the old mill buildings.

“People arriving in Trowbridge will finally not be greeted with a derelict site but instead see a site more reflective of the town’s renewed optimism!”

On November 29, the Strategic Planning Committee voted to grant planning permission, subject to the completion of a S106 legal agreement, which set out conditions for the development, such as the provision of affordable housing and a sufficient choice of school places to meet the increased need.

According to the council, work has commenced on this legal agreement, but has not yet been completed, so planning permission has not been officially issued.

Therefore, Wiltshire Council must take into account the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which was adjusted in December 2023.

The changes mean that Wiltshire Council must demonstrate a minimum of a four-year supply for new housing, which is a reduction from the previous minimum five-year supply.

Councillor Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Management and Strategic Planning said this would be an “important consideration” in future planning applications.

Three controversial developments were recently reversed as a result of the NPPF update in Warminster, Westbury and Melksham.

The Innox Mills Bowyer factory application is now also up for a review at the next Strategic Planning Committee meeting, on Wednesday, April 17.

Members of the committee will discuss whether the NPPF changes should alter their previous decision.

Currently, the recommendation is for councillors to continue supporting this application, subject to the completion of the S106 legal agreement.

The Innox Mills development is due to provide a new cultural quarter made up of micro businesses, food and drink, art and independent retail. 

A riverside park is planned alongside the river Biss that would contain public open space, play space, drainage attenuation, landscape and ecological buffers.