THE Bowood Estate have submitted a new planning application to further develop the former Blounts Court nursery site in Studley with 25 extra homes.

The site owners, Trustees of the Bowood Reversioners Trust, finally won planning permission for a 28-home development on the site at the second attempt in December last year.

But now a second application has been submitted, with an additional 25 homes encroaching onto greenfield land according to local residents.

Campaigners, many of whom objected to both the previous two applications on the site, are at a loss to explain the sudden, new and larger proposal.

Many have written to Wiltshire Council objecting to the proposals believing that the Calne area has already fulfilled its housing quota.

Janet Robbins, of Studley, said: “What they have subsequently done is put in an application for 53 homes with a controlled crossing.

“This is the same site, but bigger, to include green field. There are several evidence-based reasons it should be turned down.

Wiltshire Council already has its allocation in the Calne area so there’s no need for housing, which we are delighted about. This is an opportunistic pre-neighbourhood plan application.”

A promotional brochure, produced by the Bowood Estate, claims that the status of Derry Hill and Studley, within the Wiltshire Council Core Strategy indicates the settlement is a suitable location for development.

The development will include 30 per cent affordable housing, a widening of Studley Lane and new footpath, and a controlled pedestrian crossing over the A4, subject to permission from the Highways Authority.

A Bowood spokesman said: “The Trustees of the Bowood Reversioners Trust submitted an application, in October, for a further 25 houses at Blounts Court following Wiltshire Council’s decision this summer to include the remainder of the site within their Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment.

"At its meeting on the August 3, Calne Without Parish Council voted unanimously in favour of this site which is well-contained and close to local facilities and public transport.”

Wiltshire Councillor Christine Crisp has requested the application be called in for consideration by a planning committee due to concerns over provision of the controlled pedestrian crossing on the A4.