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During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Calne was considered to be one of the fastest-expanding towns in the South West England region, with a population projected to peak at around 16,000 by 2012. The Lansdowne Park housing development (completed in late 2008) has substantially increased the physical scale of the town, creating an entirely new northwestern suburb, including a new primary school, medical surgery and a small shopping area. This area has particularly attracted professional workers from traditionally more expensive areas such as Bath, Bristol, Marlborough and as far afield as the 'silicon valley' towns of central Berkshire. Lansdowne Park is named to reflect the development's proximity to the seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne, whose family has resided at the nearby Bowood House country estate since 1784.
Aside from the final completion of Lansdowne Park, small pockets of new housing developments are evident across the town, but on a far smaller scale. In October 2007, the go-ahead was granted for the creation of a major new £1m outdoor sports facility at Beversbrook on Calne's northern edge and was officially opened in April 2009.
The draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy, published in 2008, recommended the building of 13,700 additional dwellings within the District of North Wiltshire during the period 2006 - 2026. Of these, some are designated for Calne.
Notable buildings in the town include St Mary's Church, an array of houses on The Green and the Town Hall. Of particular note is the new Library which has won awards for its innovative design and was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.
However, since the demolition of the Harris pork factory and the completion of the first phase of redevelopment/regeneration in 2001, Calne has, in general, been successfully transformed into an attractive setting compared to its run-down image of the 1980s and 1990s. A substantial amount of scaffolding materialised across Calne town centre throughout 2007-2008 with a view to the renovation of several prominent buildings.
Calne's former railway station opened in 1863, the terminus of a branch line of the Great Western Railway from Chippenham. There was initially one intermediate stop - Stanley Bridge Halt. The opening of another quite late in the line's history - Black Dog Halt, was not enough to slow the inevitable decline. The branch closed as a result of the Beeching Axe in September 1965, having achieved the dubious distinction of making the biggest loss per mile of track of any line in the country.
The town centre suffers from heavy traffic congestion with large queues stretching along Wood Street, Curzon Street, Oxford Road and The Pippin most of the day. This is caused by North Wiltshire Council's decision to only allow single-file traffic between Curzon Street and Wood Street with traffic heading towards Wood Street having priority. The A4 road through the town is usually close to gridlock during rush hours because of this.
A northern bypass road (part of the A3102 road) was completed in 2001 and an eastern bypass is under consideration for possible construction in 2012.
Calne is equidistant (12 miles/19 km) from the M4 motorway at Junction 16 (Wootton Bassett/Swindon West) to the northeast of Calne, and the westbound M4 junction 17 just north of Chippenham to the northwest. The closest main passenger airport is Bristol International Airport, 38 miles (61 km) to the southwest. Calne is also one the largest UK towns not served by a rail station, nor does it have a bus station, though in March 2007 it was designated as a National Express stop on route 403 from Bath to London via Heathrow Airport once a day. This service runs with Wheelchair Accessible coaches.
As part of the 'New Heart of Calne' initiative, a section of Phelps Parade was redeveloped in 2009 and new mixed-use building constructed in its place, part Cotswold stone and part red brick. This was originally intended as a Woolworths outlet and as of January 2010 it remains unoccupied. A new glass roof section and roof lining was installed at Phelps Parade in 2009 to improve its appearance, and although a future large-scale redevelopment/replacement is anticipated (which may include the complete removal of the existing buildings), no firm plans have been confirmed.