VILLAGERS near Devizes are fighting to stop a farmer from building a slurry pit and silage area which they fear will cause an increase of agricultural vehicles on narrow roads.

Both All Cannings and Etchilhampton Parish Council have written to object to the scheme by John Curnick of Manor Farm, All Cannings for land he owns in Etchilhampton.

A series of village meetings have been held in Etchilhampton to highlight the problems with the scheme and the parish council has written to object. Its letter said: "The road from Etchilhampton to All Cannings is already subject to very serious road safety concerns as it is very narrow, has a number of blind bends and has been the location of a number of road traffic incidents involving vehicles, horses, cyclists and pedestrians.

"The volume and size of agricultural vehicles are of particular concern especially west of Heath Knapp Farm.

"We believe that our extremely strong objections covering the environment, lack of farming justification, road safety and lack of information and clarity about the applications and the complaints of all the other objectors posted on the website make an overwhelming case for rejecting the applications."

All Cannings parish clerk Kate Asbury also wrote on behalf of the council to protest saying: "Lots of parents use the road through Etchilhampton to commute to and from school.

"The road is already dangerous with blind corners, and we are concerned about the extra volume of large traffic and potential for more accidents."

But agents on behalf of Mr Curnick have prepared a report which says plans for a new track between the two areas of land would help to remove farm traffic from local roads.

Agent Michael Goff said: At present during busy harvesting periods, there could be as many as 35 tractor vehicle movements per day between Mr Curnick’s land at Etchilhampton and Manor Farm, All Cannings, if the pad, lagoon and track are permitted this figure would drop by around 90 per cent or possibly more.

"Mr Curnick is extremely concerned that at some point there will be a fatal accident between one of his tractors and another road user and the desire to avoid this is a major factor."

People in Etchilhampton are also concerned about the number of farm vehicles pulling large trailers that have been travelling through the village in the past days.

Kate Freeman transport spokesperson for Devizes Community Area Partnership said: "For several days last week the narrow lane outside our house in Etchilhampton has been engulfed by a tornado of tractors harvesting maize.

"When confronted with another car or tractor coming in the opposite direction, the tractor drivers have been ploughing on regardless and churned up our grass verges. Cyclists have had to hug the bank or climb up onto the verge to allow the tractors to pass."

Mrs Freeman has reported the problem to Wiltshire Council and Wiltshire police. We calculated that there were around 80 to 100 tractors a day from 8am to 10 or 11pm."