A planning application for permission to build 250 houses on the very northern edge of Highworth may be expected.

Although no such proposal has yet been made, The Thomas Freke and Lady Norton Charity, which is based in Hannington, a few miles west of the hilltop town, has submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment screening opinion.

Such a document, in essence, asks planners at Swindon Borough Council whether an environmental impact assessment is needed if, and when, a full planning application is made, and is normally a good tip-off that such an application is being prepared.

If one is put in it will be for outline permission for 250 houses and flats on agricultural land to the east of the roundabout on the A361 Lechlade Road joining Roundhills Mead, at the very northern edge of the town, opposite the Aldi supermarket.

According to a map included in the screening request the site extends north along the A361 from the roundabout, then north east and also further south along Roundhills Mead, but excludes the small woodland on the very border of the roundabout.

The screening application does give some details of what we might expect from a full request for planning consent.

Vehicle access to the estate would be from Lechlade Road and Roundhills Mead.

The document submitted says: “The site is comprised of five agricultural fields of varying size and shape, which are bound on all sides by hedgerows and by ditches in the northern part of the Site.

“A high-pressure water pipeline runs through the northern part of the site, which presents a constraint and is not proposed for built development.”

The residential part of the site, which will include ‘affordable housing’  will see houses nearer Lechlade Road having a higher specification of glazing to lessen traffic noise for residents.

The applicant tells planners that there will be two children’s playgrounds on the site, one to the north and the other to the south of the site and adds: “New pedestrian access and pedestrian crossing will be provided along Lechlade Road to the west of the Site, with footway improvements proposed along Roundhills Mead as part of the vehicular access junction.

“Hedgerows and ditches will be retained where possible across the site.

It is not possible for residents or other groups to comment on this application as it is purely for the planning authority to say whether an assessment of the proposal’s environmental impact needs to be included.