FEARS are growing that many of the 167 new homes to be built off Salisbury Road in Marlborough will go to people from outside the town and not to existing residents or first-time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder.

Town councillors, members of the public and representatives from developer Redrow Homes met at the town hall on Tuesday to discuss the details of the scheme, which also includes building a hotel, on 33 acres of land.

Although concerns that Redrow would ditch the hotel were quashed, as Redrow's South West technical director Gavin Hall said discussions are progressing well with an unnamed hotel provider, no such promises were made to reassure local people they would be at the front of the queue for the new 'affordable' homes.

Redrow are currently choosing a housing association to handle the affordable housing - which makes up 40 per cent of the development - but there are fears that if it does not go through Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire4Homes scheme, locals and first time buyers could miss out.

At the meeting Charmaine Bartlett, of Benson Close, said: "I am deeply worried that these houses will be marketed nationally. If we get rich commuters then that may increase traffic and put strain on our health services at the expense of locals.

"I went to all the meetings with the Crown Estate, who were originally granted permission to build 175 homes and a hotel, and this has not been addressed. Developers too often focus on profits and not the people."

At the town council planning meeting just after the Redrow talk, deputy mayor Lisa Farrell added: "So many people are desperate for houses here but for some reason they give it to people outside Marlborough.

"Is there no way we can make Redrow secure a significant amount of these affordable houses to local people? First time buyers from the area have nowhere to go as it costs hundreds of thousands to buy houses here. It is just wrong that they are not given a chance."

The original Crown Estate application was granted last year and included 175 homes, open space, play areas, woodland planting and a wild flower meadow, along with environmental protection for local wildlife.

The updated development, which was sold to Redrow in March, has gone down to 167 homes and the town council have asked if eight detached houses can be replaced with 16 terraced homes, several of which could be used for affordable housing.

Councillors also asked if there could be more bungalows and houses suitable for disabled people and one, two and three bedroom houses instead of four/five bedroomed ones, which are more profitable.

The current plans show 67 'affordable' homes, 50 for rent and 17 as shared ownership, with the remaining 100 homes for sale.