THE long-running saga of a pub versus a doctors' surgery on a Hilperton estate has taken another twist.

Work has been stopped on land off Hackett Place, Paxcroft Mead, after developers were told it was illegal to continue, despite having planning permission.

In a plotline full of twists and turns the future of the site has become more uncertain and confused over the years since work on the estate started. Originally there was land earmarked for healthcare facilities and a pub as part of the estate, under a legal agreement between the developers and the planning authorities.

This was later varied to allow further shops on one section of land and a wrangle then broke out over whether the remaining site should be used for a surgery or a pub.

Parish and district councillor Ernie Clark said: "People are still very much in favour of medical facilities. I have only had one person say to me they would prefer a pub and I would say 99.5 per cent of the people who have contacted me are behind a medical use.

"I am not anti-pub at all, it is just if there is a choice of one rather than the other then nearly everyone is saying medical facilities. "The developer has been asked to do the best it can to try and find a medical use for it, if that is not possible after every effort is made then fair enough."

Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries bought the site from Marshgate and applied for planning permission for a pub. The application was refused by West Wiltshire District Council last year but was then granted on appeal to a planning inspector.

The brewery has begun work but the legal agreement, known as a section 106, binding the developer, Marshgate Developments, to provide medical facilities still exists and West Wiltshire District Council has refused to vary it.

Council spokesman Louise Knox said: "This is a very unusual and difficult situation. It is an unusual for the planning inspector to allow something on appeal that is in direct opposition to the section 106. "We are currently seeking legal advice as to the options available to us."

The developer has said the local healthcare authorities have said they do not need the land and it is too small to be used for a medical practice. Some residents hope private facilities could be brought in while others are resigned to the cash-strapped health service being unable to provide the staff even if a building is made available.

Residents' association spokesman Peter Collins said: "I think the chance of getting a medical centre is slim because West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust has not got any money and in any case small surgeries are not in' these days."

A spokesman for Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries said it was against company policy to comment on the situation.