Developers of the St Peter’s town centre scheme say they are being singled out for unfair treatment by the Town Council’s concerns over parking.

The project, which includes a 23 bed hotel, restaurant and eight new homes and was nudged forward at the meeting of the town’s planning committee on Monday with a majority vote.

But the recommendation has gone forward with a proviso that the concerns about parking are addressed with more scrutiny over the county’s parking strategy.

They asked that Wiltshire Council consider the allocation for the proposed restaurant parking before it makes a decision

The issue centres around the proposed loss of four public parking spaces in the town, which councillors fear is becoming more and more congested.

“The restaurant parking is for the customers and not the staff,” said planning committee chair, Cllr Susie Price.

“I think we agree that we are all in favour of this development but it is just the parking that is the sticking point.”

But the developers, Marlborough based Sherbourne feel singled out.

“There have been other restaurants, such as Rick Stein’s, which have opened up relatively recently in Marlborough,” said David Milligan, Sherbourne’s development director.

“They were not asked to provide parking arrangements when they opened. We strongly believe our proposal is in line with Wiltshire Council’s parking policy.”

The committee also discussed the new cinema planned for later this year in the same area of the town was also not asked to provide details about parking when it made it’s application.

“The cinema is due to open in the same are later this year,” said Cllr Andrew Ross.

“But parking has a funny way of dispersing, so we should not hold back this proposal because of it.”

His comments were endorsed by Cllr Nick Fogg who also suggested that the car park to the rear of Waitrose was often pretty much empty of an evening, and could also be a useful solution to aid the parking element of the proposal.

Wiltshire Council has yet to set a date for the scheme to go before it’s planners, but says the end of February is a possibility.

It is still awaiting reports from the Highways experts, but the plans might still find a blocker in the form of the archeology report.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record and Extensive Urban Survey for Marlborough shows that the proposed development is in an area of archaeological interest.

It is on thei site of the Hospital of St John the Baptist, founded in 1215. This monastic institution was on the periphery of a medieval settlement area.

Archeologists from the Museum of London dug three trenches at the site last year, and is now recommending further exploration of the site is needed.

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