CAMPAIGNERS furious about the fiasco surrounding the suspension of a public hearing into plans that will shape the future of Chippenham have demanded to know what went wrong.

There was disbelief last week when inspector Patrick Whitehead stopped proceedings on the second day of the inquiry into where 2,500 homes should be built and told Wiltshire Council he had fundamental concerns about how development sites had been selected.

Independent Wiltshire councillor Chris Caswell said this week: "It’s a big thing to come to terms with. I think for the residents of Chippenham it’s difficult to know just what is going to happen. Is the council going to spend more money revising evidence plans or start again?"

Campaigners, who are worried the new homes will cause flooding and traffic congestion, called on Wiltshire Council cabinet member for strategic planning Toby Sturgis to answer questions about the financial implication of the collapse of the inquiry.

But Wiltshire Council has refused to be drawn on how much it cost in officers and other experts time to get the plans ready for the inquiry and how much a new hearing will cost.

A council spokesman said: "It is too early to speculate on cost."

Coun Sturgis played down the situation and denied the council had been ill prepared. He said: "I was slightly surprised because the inspector for the Wiltshire Core Strategy, Andrew Seaman, found our plan to be sound. We had done the work in the same way as we agreed but this inspector wanted it done in a different way.

"It has not gone wrong, this is an inspector whose duty it is to see if the plan is sound or not. He wants to make sure that the evidence we have is put into a different format so he can make his judgement.

"By suspending the hearings he didn’t get to the days where we would have provided the evidence he wants, he wants it all up front. I think we have the evidence to back up the choices we made.

"We have been asked by the inspector to produce further evidence, we will produce it.

"Inspectors are individual people and their duty is to make sure the plan is sound and this inspector wants to look at it in a different way."

But it is possible that Wiltshire Council may have to withdraw the plan and start again to ensure soundness.

Steve Perry, of Chippenham Community Voice, said: “I would like them to start listening to the people who they are affecting, the people of Chippenham who they represent. I do think it has major implications for Chippenham.

"There’s a real groundswell of people who are total frustrated with the system as it stands because the system does not listen to them."