South Wiltshire Core Strategy - Wiltshire Council

6.8 The map illustrates how the spatial strategy acknowledges the dominant role of
Salisbury and allocates the majority of strategic growth in or around it to reflect its
status as south Wiltshire’s SSCT. In accordance with the settlement strategy, the
important role of Amesbury is also recognised through the allocation of strategic
housing. The local service centres will be the main focus of growth within their
community areas.
6.9 The map shows important functional relationships with neighbouring settlements, as
depicted by the grey arrows. In this context, a functional relationship could mean
where people go shopping, commuting to work, for leisure, or an administrative
centre. There are a number of functional relationships shown on the map.
6.10 For retail and leisure 50 purposes, Salisbury has the greatest relationships with
Southampton, Andover, Poole, Bournemouth, Yeovil, Swindon, Bath and
Trowbridge. However, the relationships vary depending on the nature of the activity.
For instance, with regards to convenience shopping for groceries the relationship is
strongest with Shaftesbury, especially from the south western part of the area, while
for shopping as a leisure activity it is Southampton which plays the strongest role.
Mere is an important centre for outlying villages to the west of the area although
supermarkets at Gillingham and Shaftesbury are placing competitive pressure on
local retailers and services. Mere is within the secondary school catchment area for
Gillingham.
6.11 Southampton, Andover and Winchester are influential job markets outside of Wiltshire
relevant to the Salisbury employment market 51 and are a destination for outcommuting.
Amesbury has significant economic connections to Andover and
Basingstoke 52 . South Wiltshire has important tourist links with the New Forest,
Southampton and the Bournemouth and Poole areas. London exerts a significant
influence on Salisbury both as a commuting destination based on main line train links
and also making smaller settlements in south Wiltshire the target for second home
owners.
6.12 Responding to these functional relationships and shaping how they will be in the
future, is an essential part of this strategy. They should not be considered to be either
unchanging or benign. For example, the Vision for Salisbury, as strongly supported
through the consultation process and promoted in the RSS, see Salisbury as a
Strategically Important City, which offers a strong range of local homes, jobs and
retailing opportunities in a self-contained manner which can help reduce the need to
travel. The historic under provision of housing has been undermining this objective,
through driving up house prices, making it difficult for a young workforce to afford a
home, which in turn undermines the ability of local employers to recruit staff. This has
led to polarisation in the city between a young workforce who find it difficult to afford
to locate to the area and an ageing but generally affluent population. This situation
means that there is a growing trend of both out and in commuting, which undermines
economic productivity and harms the environment. These trends are leading
Salisbury towards a larger dormitory role and do not meet the objectives that the
community and stakeholders aspire to. Therefore this Strategy is focussed on
addressing the causes of the problems, by delivering the local homes, jobs and
services which can alter the functional relationships with neighbouring centres in a
positive manner.
50 See 'Retail and Leisure Needs Survey by GVA Grimley 'health checks on pages 24 & Topic Paper 8,
'Retail' and First & Second addenda thereto
51 see Topic Paper 9, Economy, para 2.35
52 Regional Economic Strategy for South West England 2006 – 2015 – Spatial Implications – Place
Matters
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