OUTRAGED villagers fear plans to build 25 houses on a site close to the source of the River Thames will increase the chances of their homes being flooded once more.

The plans were discussed at a socially-distanced meeting with residents close to the proposed development site in Tuners Lane, Crudwell, near Malmesbury on Saturday.

The meeting was called by the steering group responsible for drawing up, in consultation with residents, the draft Crudwell Neighbourhood Plan outlining the preferred structure of the village for the next five years (2021-2026).

It is the draft of the plan that includes the plans for 20-25 new houses on a field next to existing social housing in Tuners Lane.

The government’s national housing strategy dictates that every large village such as Crudwell must accommodate at least 20 new houses by 2026, a proportion of them to be “affordable”.

If a neighbourhood plan is not in place designating a site for the houses, it will leave the village vulnerable to unwanted developments.

More than 30 houses in the villages, several in Tuners Lane, were flooded in the deluge of 2007 and many of those households also had to deal with flooding in 2004.

The Swill Brook, a small tributary of the River Thames, runs alongside Tuners Lane and it is this that breaks its banks during periods of exceptionally heavy rainfall, causing flooding.

Steering group secretary Roy Lambley told the meeting that developers with whom the group was in negotiation had concluded that either a holding tank or pit could control the run-off water from the proposed development into the brook and ease the existing flooding problem.

“They don’t know what they are talking about,” said retired milkman Eric Vines, who has lived in the village for almost 50 years.

“They say the flooding is a once-in-a-hundred-years problem but in the six or seven years I worked as a milkman that road flooded more than 20 times.”

The other major concern raised was the increase in traffic that would be generated on Tuners Lane, along which parents have to walk with their children to reach the school and the village playground.

Resident Nigel Kelly pointed out that the site was 1.2 kilometres by road from the village hall and playing field and that the route included the ‘exceptionally dangerous’ junction of the lane with the main A429 through the village.

Several people commented that a traffic survey commissioned by the steering group had been conducted at an inappropriate time of year and that the conclusion of consultants that just 11 extra car journeys a day would be generated by 25 new houses was “ridiculous”.

Resident David Bailey said the Tuners Lane development had been included in the plan without consultation with residents and was dividing the whole village.

He added that 95 percent of the plan was excellent but when it came to voting on it at a referendum next year those opposed to the housing plans would have no option but to vote against the whole document.

Chairman of the steering group Sian Burke-Murphy explained that the plan had taken three years to compile and had involved detailed consultation with the parish and county councils, residents, landowners and developers.

Ten potential sites for the required housing had been considered but only two had proved to fulfil the requirements for sustainability and availability.

If the draft plan was finally approved and adopted, she said a village community liaison group would be formed to consider the details of any development plans subsequently submitted.

A copy of the draft Crudwell Neighbourhood Plan can been viewed online at https:/consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/.

The deadline for comments on the plan to Wiltshire Council is 5pm on August 24, emailed to neighbourhoodplanning@wiltshire.gov.uk.