A TROWBRIDGE woman has hit out at Wiltshire Council for not giving her and other residents enough time to have their say on a proposal to build 180 homes in the Hilperton Gap.

Liz Gwinnell, of Horse Road, says she received a letter two weeks ago about HGT Developments LLP's planning application to build the homes on land west of Elizabeth Way.

She argues that residents should have been given more time to air their views on such a huge development and that the deadline on Thursday was a very small time frame.

"It does seem a very small time frame when you consider how important this is and how people do not want it. Hundreds of people are against this and people I have spoken to agree it is a remarkably short period of time," she said.

"I got the letter a couple of weeks ago but some people are away so they cannot comment on it. It is a massive development and will take out a lot of beautiful countryside. There has not been much publicity about it."

The Trowbridge Town Development Committee were unanimous in their rejection of the proposal at last week's meeting.

Trowbridge councillor Geoff Whiffen added: "This is going against Wiltshire Council's own core strategy which said there will be no infill between towns and villages but that is what is happening with Southwick and Hilperton.

"They are relying on developers to put forward the amount of housing we need. It is all about getting money in for the least possibly spent. It is a short timeframe for very important decisions and it is during the summer holidays when a lot of people go away. I think it is disgusting."

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “As this is an ongoing application we had already sent letters to local residents when it was first registered.

"We recently sent out additional letters and put up public notices to inform residents of some revisions to the original application to take account of concerns raised by consultees.

"People have been given adequate time to respond to the revised version and over the course of this application being active we have received many representations, all of which will be taken into account when a final decision on it is made.”