PLANS for houses on the site of Athelstan Garage are being held up by objections from The Environment Agency, which says a flood plain analysis must be carried out before it gives approval.

Athelstan's managing director Colin Rank said an application for nine houses and four flats on the site was made in January and he does not know why it has not come up before North Wiltshire District Council yet.

In February, Mr Rank was asked by The Environment Agency to carry out a flood plain analysis of the stretch of the River Avon near to the garage.

He was told that he could not proceed without the approval of the Environment Agency.

So he asked Lewin, Fryer and Partners, engineering consultants in Bradford on Avon, to prepare a proposal for the work .

But after a delay of three months, the company returned to him this week to say that, in light of the floods in Malmesbury in 2000, records needed adjusting.

Instead of just the stretch of the River Avon near Athelstan, Mr Rank said the engineering consultants told him that the whole town would have to be assessed, at a cost of between £2-6,000.

The last flood plain analysis, the first for 100 years, was carried out five years ago. Mr Rank said that he wanted to use its findings.

But, he said, according to the engineering consultants, the company that carried out the previous assessment had gone bankrupt, and its data could not be relied upon.

"It's extremely frustrating," said Mr Rank, who has owned Athelstan Garage since 1977. "We have been waiting since February for this information and we could already have got on with what we needed to do."

Now he is looking to employ another company to carry out the assessment.

Alison Jones, an Environment Agency development control engineer, said it would not be necessary for Mr Rank to carry out a flood plain analysis of the whole town.

However, she confirmed that Government guidelines put the onus on him to carry one out for the stretch of river near to the Athelstan Garage site.

The Malmesbury garage closed its doors on New Year's Eve, and the Peugeot dealership, which employed 15 people, relocated its operation to garages in Chippenham and Cirencester.

In January, Malmesbury Town Council objected to the plans, saying they constituted over-development.

But Mr Rank said the Environment Agency's stance was proving to be the biggest stumbling block.

The garage owner said that the Athelstan Garage side of the River Avon is three or four foot higher than the other side, and less vulnerable to flooding.

He said he understood there was a sluice gate further down the river that had released water during the floods two years ago.

"If it did flood it would leave Somerfield under four feet of water, and flood the fire station and the entire industrial park that is beyond that," added Mr Rank.

"That is not going to happen."

Asked whether he had told Mr Rank that the whole of Malmesbury needed a flood analysis, Jack Mason of Lewin, Fryer and Partners, said: "You would not normally expect to have to carry out an analysis of Malmesbury."

dvaller@newswilts.co.uk