THE 'will of the people' of Corsham has been ignored, say the town council, after a previously rejected application to build 31 homes was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate.

Planning inspector Rory Cridland overturned Wiltshire Council's decision to refuse RST Corsham's proposals to demolish the six existing houses alongside protected woodlands The Batters on Peacock Grove, after he ruled it would not have significant impact on the character of the surrounding area.

Despite Wiltshire Council turning down the development in October, and more than 100 letters of objection being sent by residents, the application will now go ahead, infuriating the town council.

Corsham Town Council chairman, Ruth Hopkinson, said: "I am absolutely appalled that the Planning Inspectorate have overturned the decision of Wiltshire Council and allowed this deeply unpopular application to go ahead.

"The development is totally out of keeping with the town and we are already beyond the number of houses we need in the town, which puts extra pressure on our health and school facilities, but unfortunately that does not seem to matter to the planning inspector, nor does the 100 or so letters of objection from locals.

"The only party for this is the developer, who once again will make a healthy profit from this. Wiltshire Council took on the town council's concerns and saw it was unsuitable for the town but once again a speculative application has been approved against the will of the people.

"This is why we need to have a neighbourhood plan in place as we can hopefully stop these applications that do absolutely nothing for the town. I wish that Wiltshire's site allocation plan had been sorted earlier so we would not be victim to these developers."

In Mr Cridland’s report that was released last Wednesday, he also ruled that the application would not have an impact on the protected bat species located in the Bath and Bradford on Avon Bats Special Area of Conservation.

He said: "In reaching my decision I have had regard to the considerable number of objections received from local residents and those of Corsham Town Council both at application stage and as part of this appeal. In respect of the concerns raised regarding the development’s impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area, biodiversity and the necessary infrastructure contributions, these have been taken into account in reaching my conclusions.

"Those which relate to highways infrastructure, flooding, its impact on local services and residential amenity were considered by the Council at application stage and were found not to be so great that they would justify a refusal of planning permission. Based on the evidence before me, I have seen nothing which would lead me to reach a different conclusion."