A WESTBURY councillor has claimed planning officers "live on another planet", after visiting the site of a refused application.

Bill Braid, chairman of the town council's planning committee, made the comments after he and fellow members inspected Frogmore House in Frogmore Road.

Using delegated powers, a planning officer from West Wiltshire District Council, had turned down developer McCarthy & Stone's bid to convert the building into sheltered accommodation, partly for design reasons.

But Cllr Braid said the only real problem had been a lack of parking, which could be solved.

He said: "They planning officers live on a different planet I'm sure they do. They are here for six months and then they're gone. They don't know the area and they don't know the buildings. I put a lot of work into studying planning applications like this and our views should be considered properly."