Wadworth Brewery redevelopment plans revealed

The plans for Wadworth Brewery’s historic site, earmarked by property developers for housing, have been revealed.

The redevelopment plans for the Wadworth Brewery site on Northgate Street in Devizes, have been submitted to Devizes councillors by property developer Backhouse.

According to reports, the submission is the latest of several revisions that have been made to the developer’s planning application for 102 new homes to be built on the site. The first suggestions were initially submitted to the council back in May 2023, but were the subject of a raft of complaints and queries over the redevelopment of the brewery.

The objections, which reportedly came from residents, town councillors and the Assize Court Trust, related to the details of the initial development proposal’s overall design along with concerns over the impact of the housing upon the local area and an assumed uptick in traffic.

Local concerns and queries raised then led to Backhouse going back to the drawing board and redesigning the site to reassess the impact of the issues along with reconsidering the site having been a much-loved and historic landmark.

Devizes town councillors will see Backhouse developers present their latest proposal today and following this meeting will then make a decision about a way forwards for the Wadworth site.

Property developers have, of late, honed in on buying up historic brewery sites and turning them into houses. For instance, developers recently revealed plans for Edinburgh’s Caledonian brewery to never return to its brewing heritage after Heineken sold the brewery to Artisan Real Estate. The developers then put in a pre-application notice to the council detailing plans for building consent to build houses in its place.

The issue has not only affected historic brewery sites, but also pub sites that have stood for years as assets of the community. This summer, new data gathered by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), showed that a third of pub losses still happen without the required planning permission.

Concerns have risen since calls mounted for the government to change its plans for “High Street Rental Auctions” which are pitched as a regeneration scheme.

CAMRA has since pointed out that these auctions would see developers gain the ability to gut and convert vacant sites without the need to apply for planning permission amplifying concerns that cutting communities out of this decision will lead to the loss of valued community facilities.

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