AN ambitious scheme to build 155 homes at the former Lucent site on the edge of Malmesbury has been supported by the parish council.

The Minton Group, which bought the Swindon Road site last year for an undisclosed sum, failed to find businesses willing to rent space and instead came up with a scheme to boost the number of people working from home.

St Paul's Malmesbury Without Parish Council members said they would have liked to see the area kept for industrial use but recognised the difficulty of attracting a big company to Malmesbury.

The council voted to support the development but chairman Ian Henderson said they would also draw a list of areas that needed to be improved in the future.

"We were really quite positive about it, we would like to see that site back in business again," he said.

"We found that the scheme was attractive in concept and home working units were very 21st century. A lot of small firms come from those beginnings then grow to bigger things."

Architects drawings show that the scheme is made up of one to four bedroom houses that will all have office space on a separate floor or built adjacent to the house.

Affordable housing will also be included as well as a business and meeting centre, crche and restaurant.

Coun Bernard Ingham said he was broadly in favour of the scheme because it provided affordable houses and maintained some business use on the site, but he still had concerns.

He said: "Will it work? I think some of these would be ideal granny flats. Whether they would stay as work-based units we would have to see.

"What I am also worried about is that there are no large areas of public space in the plans, somewhere for the kids to go about and kick a ball."

Lea resident Sean Tyacke was not in favour of the scheme. He felt it would put too much burden on the primary school and was confused as to the development's target market.

"The nearest school is Lea and Garsdon Primary, but that school is full," he said.

"I work for an American company and I work two days a week from home. I just need a small amount of space and extra room for my laptop not the amount space they are offering."

The civic trust said the development would have an adverse affect on Malmesbury especially in the wake of permission granted to build at least 120 houses at Filands, by North Wiltshire District Council earlier this month.

The trust's vice chairman, Roger Griffin, said: "We do not need 170 houses in the foreseeable future, it just seems too much.

"The structure plan for the area in the first draft for 2011 has 188 houses over ten years and we have already had building permission for that number of houses in three years."

"Malmesbury is a small town it needs to grow relatively slowly."

Paul Fong, of Hunter Page Planning, which is handling the development for Minton, said he was aware the Filands development had been given permission but was confident the local infrastructure could cope with extra housing. He said the results of a survey conducted in Malmesbury reinforced his company's belief there was a market for the scheme.

The scheme will also demolish Cowbridge House, once the site of EK Cole Ltd, which developed radar during the war. Cedar House, part of the former office block, will be converted into modern office suites.

Mr Fong said the converted block would meet the level of office space their survey of Malmesbury revealed was needed.