A Wiltshire community environment group is planning to revisit its plans after part of the huge Cooper Tire & Rubber Company site in Melksham was sold to a mystery buyer.

The Melksham Green Space group made a sealed bid to buy 28.5 acres of the site in February aiming to create a sustainable habitat for wildlife, boost biodiversity and provide more green space for residents.

The community group had hoped to buy part of ‘Area B’, on the opposite side of the River Avon to the factory site in Melksham.

Agents for Goodyear Tires, which is selling the extensive Cooper Tire & Rubber site, said they had accepted an offer from a rival bidder.

One of the group members, Cllr Jennie Westbrook, said: “Sadly we recently found out that our bid was unsuccessful.

“However, the fight still continues and we’re not bowing out just yet. We’re just recollecting our plans and will see where we are.”

Nigel Benham, the group's chairman, said: "We are devastated and really disappointed for the town and for our group who worked hard on this. We thought we had a good bid.

"We have contacted the agent to put in a higher offer and our message to the buyer is to please come and talk to us.

"Our bid was focussed on conservation and the community and we thought we were in with a chance."

Mr Benham said the land for which they bid is normally used to grow maize and lies on the River Avon floodplain and has flooded three times so far this year.

"We are now in the realm of uncertainty. We don't know who has purchased the land and what their intentions are. It is not an ideal plot of land, except for conservation use.

"Our concerns are that although there are protections for flood areas it is not preventing developers from going for them and that is a big worry."

He now hopes to identify the mystery buyer, who may have bought the whole of the Cooper Tires site, to see if they will sell the land for which the group bid.

"We are hopeful we are still in with a chance to put in a higher bid," he said.

Goodyear Tires closed the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Melksham site in 2023 with the loss of 350 jobs following its £2.25 billion purchase of the company in 2021.