Councillors are backing calls for the removal of unsightly scaffolding in the High Street, after years of complaints.

Residents in Warminster have repeatedly registered dismay at the scaffolding in front of 1-3 High Street, which many consider to be having a detrimental impact on the town.

The scaffolding – installed almost three years ago – was due to be removed earlier this year, after town councillor Andrew Davis met the agents of the building, Haycocks High Perfor-mance Property. They told him it could be taken down.

However, the scaffolding still remains in place.

At a Warminster Town Council development committee meeting on Monday, discussions took place about what steps could be taken after Wiltshire Council came to the conclusion that the site did not “adversely affect the local amenity”.

Cllr Rob Fryer said: “It is absurd to say that this does not adversely affect the local amenity when we have had so many complaints and recent surveys show it to be of increasing concern.”

As the building has now been deemed safe, Cllr Jamie Cullen pro-posed that Wiltshire Council be asked whe-ther it could refuse to issue a further permit for the scaffolding.

Cllr Cullen said: “Surely if the scaffolding is not needed for structural purposes it constitutes an unnecessary obstruction, since it restricts the footpath by 50 per cent.

“Why does Wiltshire Council continue the permit?”

The town clerk has been asked to write to Wiltshire Council to ask the question and to rein-force the town council’s support for the concerns that have been raised by others, including Warminster Economy and Tourism Group.