Wiltshire Council has approved plans for 112 homes at Upside in Melksham, nearly four years after Stantonbury Building and Development Company first asked for permission to build on the site. The scheme will clear disused buildings from a vacant scrapyard between South Brook, the railway line and Bath Road.

The development will include one and two-bed apartments alongside two, three and four-bed houses, with 30% of the homes set aside as affordable. Stantonbury also plans 675 sqm of flexible employment or commercial space, public open areas, footpaths and cycleways, plus a public space on the bank of the river and a new footpath between Foundary Road and the railway station.

For the developer, the case for building was tied to the condition of the land itself. Stantonbury described the site as “unsightly” and said it “does not leave a good first impression,” a message that went to the heart of why the company wanted the council to clear the way for redevelopment.

The approval now moves the project from proposal to delivery, but the site still carries a practical complication that has shaped the plan from the start. South Brook is prone to flooding, and the land sits in a tight corridor hemmed in by the railway and a main road, which means the new homes, open space and walking routes will have to fit into one of the more constrained corners of Melksham.

That is why the scheme matters beyond the headline number of houses. It is not only about replacing a derelict plot with new homes, but about whether the redevelopment can open up a neglected edge of the town while still handling the drainage, access and public-space demands that come with it. For Melksham, the next step is whether the approved design can turn a scrapyard on the edge of the centre into a usable part of the town.