Residents claim their worst fears have been realised after two cars collided near the proposed Marden Farm development in Calne.

Road safety was the main reason residents were angry at Wiltshire Council when it admitted in January that it could not fight an outline planning application for 125 houses and a care home.

This week, Redrow Homes South West registered an updated planning application for the site, now labelled as a reserved matter, meaning it is unlikely to be rejected.

Residents are planning to object again to the proposal following the collision on a blind bend, about 40 metres from a proposed access road.

Two cars were involved on August 22 at Stockley Lane but there were no injuries.

Harriet Shannon, a committee member of the South Calne Residents’ Association, said: “We have vehemently opposed this planning application.

“There have been many many near-misses. The safety on this road has been a matter of great concern to us.

“It seems incredible that the local authority, the Highways Agency and the Planning Inspector all saw no safety issues.”

Despite residents’ complaints, Wiltshire planning officers were unable to fight the development because of a letter from planning inspector Andrew Seaman criticising parts of the council’s core strategy.

No mention of road safety issues was made in the criticism.

Mrs Shannon’s husband Tony saw the accident and directed traffic, saying that if he had not there would have been the danger of a multi-car pile-up.

Calne Police have recently adopted speeding in Calne and surrounding villages as a local policing priority, led by WPC Stockhill, community beat manager for the Calne Rural Police Team.

She said: “Recently residents of Calne and the surrounding rural villages have raised their concerns to us regarding speeding motorists.

“Over recent weeks an extensive number of speed checks have been conducted in these locations, and this will continue over coming weeks.”

Between August 2 and 7, Calne police conducted five speed checks in the location of Stockley Road, issuing 22 warnings and three fixed penalty tickets for excessive speed in a 30mph limit.