A NEW town will not be springing up near to junction 17 of the M4 according to James Gray MP, despite the government announcing the sale of part of Hullavington Airfield.

The former RAF based has been named as one of the 12 to be sold by the Ministry of Defence as part of its drive for greater efficiency.

Selling part of the airfield and 11 others will help raise an estimated £500m for the government and, according to the MoD, provide around 15,000 homes.

But North Wiltshire MP James Gray has said the decision will not see a huge influx of new houses built between Stanton St Quintin and Hullavington.

He said: “There’s no permutations under the Wiltshire Core Strategy for housing. I want to reassure people it won’t be housing.

"I think the people of Hullavington would be up in arms if there was to be a new town.

“If someone told me there was going to be a big town there I would be in shock. We don’t want more housing there but an industrial purpose makes sense.

“There’s a business interested in the site and it would be an environmentally sensitive one that local people would welcome.”

Mr Gray has refused to give any further details on which business he believes is interested. Local speculation is that washing machine and vacuum manufacturer Dyson, which moved to Malmesbury from Chippenham some years ago but has now outgrown its factory there, would be keen to stay in the area and expand.

The airfield was an RAF base until the mid-1990s and is still well used by the military with 9 Royal Logistics Corps due to remain at Buckley Barracks.

The income generated from any land sale will be ploughed back into defence spending.

Defence Minister Mark Lancaster said: “By streamlining the Defence estate, we will ensure that it better meets the needs of the Armed Forces well into the future.

“Defence has the strongest incentive to become more efficient with every pound we make by disposing of excess land reinvested into a defence budget that keeps Britain safe.

“We are also making an important contribution of 55,000 homes to the wider government housing targets.

"Every acre that we can free up will ensure that more people have the opportunity to own their own home.”

The MoD’s estate currently spans one per cent of the entire UK, approximately 452,000 hectares.

The announcement from Mr Lancaster is set to form the first part of the MoD’s plan to reduce the land it owns by 30 per cent.