More than 150 residents turned out to voice their concerns over the future growth of Warminster at an extraordinary meeting of the town council on Tuesday.

The meeting to discuss draft proposals for the revised settlement boundaries was due to be held in September, but so many people turned up that they couldn’t all fit in the Civic Centre and it was deferred until this week.

The consultation feedback will be used to develop proposals for inclusion in the Wiltshire housing site allocation development plan, but residents expressed concerns about additional housing being developed in the west of the town.

Chairman of Warminster Civic Trust Richard Hayes said at the meeting: “The current proposal would set all next phase of development in the west of town. The result would be overdeveloped, densely packed concrete and Tarmac, computer generated heartless estates.

“The cross town traffic generated will be dire at the critical choke points. The Warminster Civic Trust strongly supports the buffer zone being reinstated in the West Warminster Urban Extension and the number of homes is limited to the 900 as originally proposed.

“We also ask that the settlement boundaries reflect a balanced development, sharing the housing requirement across both east and west Warminster.”

The core strategy requires Warminster to have 1,920 new homes built between 2006 and 2026, with 504 already completed and another 1,099 developable commitments, leaving 317 homes remaining.

Persimmon Homes and Hannick Homes control the majority of the land identified as the West Warminster Urban Extension, but the developers have suggested that the site could take as many at 1,200 homes.

Resident Ed Cravensmith, from Church Street, said: “Residents on the west side of Warminster are worried that this side of the town will become the metropolis of Warminster.”

Mike Perry, chairman of Bishopstrow Village Meeting, said: “We have great concerns about moving the settlement boundary and including more SHLAA sites following the experience we have at Spurt Mead, which was a development outside the settlement boundary.”

Councillors voted to reinstate the buffer zone around the West Warminster Urban Extension and to attempt to limit the number of homes to the 900 originally proposed.

They also requested Tynings Allotments to be placed outside the settlement boundary, along with St George’s playing fields and Smallbrook Meadows.