POLITICIANS in Malmesbury say they have ‘grave concerns’ over several aspects of a large planning application, to build more than 200 new homes in the town.

In a letter to Wiltshire Council’s planning case officer, town councillors expressed their anger with the proposals, which ranged from the number of houses, land allocation to Malmesbury C of E Primary School, pedestrian and cycle links to the town centre, road widths and parking issues and the proposed new market square.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray has also made a ‘strong objection’ to the development proposed by Persimmon Homes.

In a letter to councillor Toby Sturgis, cabinet member for planning, Mr Gray said: “The development will be adjacent to an area of outstanding natural beauty and will completely spoil the surrounding area.

“I understand there is huge local objection to this development and I too would like to add my strong objection to this application.

“I trust you will look at the application extremely carefully and take note ofcomments received from local residents”.

Malmesbury Town Council believes their reservations from September 2016 over the proposed 227 homes “have not been addressed” and dispute that “the currently proposed number is in any sense approximately” in line with the Neighbourhood Plan.

They have suggested an upper limit of 204 homes, a 20 per cent increase in houses recommended by the NP.

In the revised plans, councillors have noted that road widths have not increased from 5.5m in some places which they feel “will lead to widespread obstruction for residents and difficulty for emergency vehicles.”

The town council is also calling for Persimmon to make more of the proposed market square which is set to be the heart of the development.

“The council considered that a complete re-design is required, creating a larger, squarer place with community amenities.

“A community centre/hall is required to make this development an attractive place to reside.

“Overall, the council’s view is that this important development for Malmesbury should comprise fewer dwellings with the resulting space used for wider roads, more parking and a redesigned market square.”

At a town council planning meeting last month, a representative from Persimmon contested the notion that the revised plans contained little change saying: “We have gone through the NP design guide page by page with Wiltshire Council’s urban design officer and the changes really are significant in terms of the form and scale of the development.”