Housing association GreenSquare wants to knock down crumbling 1960s flats around the Coleman’s Farm estate in Calne and replace them with modern houses.

The plans, to be finalised by the end of the year, will affect six blocks of flats at Coleman’s Farm, a garage site at Abberd Way and maisonettes at Woodroffe Square.

Some occupants have bought their homes under the right to buy scheme and maye be faced with compulsory purchase.

GreenSquare neighbourhood manager Jan Morse said: “We believe that with such a huge number of families living in one place, that’s why we have such a large number of anti-social behaviour complaints.

“We will work wherever we can to put housing in other areas, certainly at the moment it’s going to reduce the number of houses.

“We have visited people and several have said that they want to live in Chippenham or Marlbor-ough, they don’t necessarily want to live in Calne. When we get towards a fixed plan we will start to keep properties empty.”

The flats at Coleman’s Farm are four storeys high with 13 in each block.

Anthony Smith, 24, lives in a second floor flat with his partner and daughters Mikayla, five, and Lola-Grace, two. They are in favour of knocking the flats down.

He said: “The damp just seems to come from everywhere. We want to stay in the area, but we have been trying to get out of the flat. We had a fire in this flat a year ago and two weeks later the whole estate was having new electrical fittings.

“Considering that they are meant to be knocking them down, they are doing a lot of work. The drawings they have shown us look nice.”

Ryan Padfield, 52, lives at Coleman’s Farm in a one-bedroom top-floor flat.

He said: “They don’t need knocking down. There is a bit of damp but that’s down to maintenance. If you add up all the people living in the blocks, how are they going to replace that many houses?”

Wiltshire councillor Tony Trotman said: “I welcome the plans to remove the tower buildings and replace them with more acceptable lower level buildings, and I look forward to enhancing the area for those residents living in the Abberd ward.”