Groundhog day - 18th June 2025

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re going round in circles?

Back in 1993 Bill Murray starred on a comedy film about a weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop forcing him to relive February 2nd repeatedly.

In Wiltshire, we appear to be experiencing something rather similar, but it’s far from amusing!

11th June was the date that we were expecting planning permission on the Super-Midden to be granted. We’d been here before on 25th May but were informed that there had been a ‘miscalculation’ and that a decision would be made on 11th June.

So, we waited patiently. At 16:10 on 11th June in it pinged – or so we thought.

But instead of a decision, in its place came an email and letter with no less than 31 questions. All, bar two, had been answered in our submission, including how many greenhouses were planned.

Clearly, the officers had not read the very document that had been carefully put together to avoid such delays, and basic questions!

You might argue this smacked of unprofessionalism, but this was nothing compared to the revelation that the planning department at Wiltshire Council had failed to consult with National Highways.

Consequently, a rather perturbed National Highways has now raised an objection requesting further information, which will delay the process yet further.

In our view, the failure to involve National Highways in Wiltshire Council’s consultation process is nothing short of negligence, and it’s going to be costly.

If that weren’t galling enough, the planning team at Wiltshire Council are now demanding a timeframe for our response, after which it will take them no less than sixteen weeks to respond.

At this point, it is worth recapping the history of this application.

1.        The application was submitted on 16th July 2024 along with payment of £90,197.

2.        After months of chasing and with little engagement, the submission was finally validated on 9th February (taking 6 months)

3.        After numerous miscalculations over the date for determination, the planning decision date was finally set for 11th June 2025 (a further 4 months later)

Despite weekly calls, and with the exception of the two site visits, we have had no engagement from the planners until that ‘Groundhog Day’ letter, emailed at 16:10 on 11th June.

What do we draw from this? Well, it appears it has taken the planning team at Wiltshire Council over 10 months not to read the application, and now they ask if we could agree a 6-month extension for yet more consideration?  It beggars’ belief!

Despite this, we have reached out to the planners to seek a resolution to this extraordinary situation, even though we have no faith in the competency of the officers dealing with the application.

What next?

If this situation cannot be resolved in the next few weeks, we will have little choice but to appeal to the Planning Directorate on the grounds of non-determination. We will also lodge an official complaint about the competency and negligent acts of the planning officers. Finally, we will review our legal options to seek compensation from Wiltshire Council.

Why does it have to come to this?

Here we are innovating to transform landfill into one of the most climate-friendly methods of waste disposal – generating heat, energy, and affordable fruit and vegetables for local communities. That’s good for the planet, the community, and the environment.

Yet bureaucratic delays and ineptitude continue to create problems for a scheme that has had universal support until that bump in the road caused by Wiltshire Council.

It shouldn’t be this way, but we will not be beaten.

Let this be an end to this Groundhog Day.

Until next time…

Nick Ash