WILTSHIRE County Council has withdrawn its financial support for a plan to create a 20mph zone in Calne's town centre.

At the last minute the county council pulled the plug because it claimed other schemes across the county had higher priority.

The scheme is aimed at reducing speed and pollution and making the town centre more accessible for pedestrians.

It is designed to encourage more shoppers into the town centre and increase trade by putting more parking bays around the town.

Town councillors said they were disappointed at the decision but are determined to press forward with the project without the county council's cash.

Chairman of the town council's planning and economic regeneration committee Coun John Watkins said he believed the scheme was no longer a priority because there had been no serious accident in the town centre.

"They did not inform us in any detail why funding had been pulled," Coun Watkins said. "They just told us it had been put elsewhere.

"But this project will happen. It will go ahead. It's just that the town council, with the support of the district council, will have to fund the work themselves now rather than in partnership with the county council.

"We have invested a lot of time and money into this project and we're committed to providing this service."

The town council worked for two years with the county and district council on the project, which it described as a model of partnership working.

Coun Watkins said this was the fourth partnership project in Calne which the county council had pulled out of in the last year, and he was disappointed Calne had been let down again.

"You could not have asked for more co-operation than we got from the county council's officers," he said.

"They worked incredibly hard on this scheme and listened to what we wanted to do.

"I feel that the county council is not connected with the local area it serves. This project is about local services and local issues for local people."

Wiltshire County Council was expected to provide £70,000 from the local transport fund, for the project, which the town council estimates will cost nearly £131,000.

Calne Town Council will make up the financial shortfall by drawing on funds that were set aside by the developers of north Calne for road calming in areas likely to be affected by new housing and the Beversbrook bypass.

Coun Watkins said the additional parking would have helped to stop people relying on Sainsbury's car park and would have encouraged them to pop into other shops in the town centre.

He said residents and the town's traders had been consulted during the planning stages.

The 20mph zone will start at the point in North Street, where the road meets Bryans Close Road.

It will include The Pippin, part of Oxford Road, Wood Street and the bottom of Curzon Street.

The pavements on the bottom of Curzon Street will be widened to improve safety for pedestrians walking into the town centre.

Pedestrian crossing points will also be improved within the 20mph zone.

The slip road leading from the A4 into Curzon Street will be blocked off, but will include parking space for people wishing to access the vets or the garage.

The section of the A4 at the roundabout at the top of New Road will be widened to include a priority turn off into Curzon Street.

There will be off-road parking spaces on the A4 before the roundabout and Wood Street.

A loading bay will be included at the top of High Street and the road next to the crossing on Wood Street is to be levelled to prevent future flooding.