TRAFFIC chaos worries and fears for child safety have pushed back plans for 250 new homes by a busy Highworth road.

It is feared that Gladman’s outline proposal for the development on Shrivenham Road would add an unmanageable amount of extra vehicles to a street which is regularly congested with cars, coaches and HGVs.

Concerned neighbour Norman Jeffery said during the last Swindon Borough Council planning committee meeting that parked cars make the road one-way near the Fox roundabout, it is jammed at drop-off and pick-up times for the two schools there, and a three-foot-wide pavement leaves little space for hundreds of pupils.

He added: “Should approval be given, there are consequences to the children attending school through the increase in traffic, leading to danger of accidents and the effect on the environment and therefore, their health.

“I recommend that every councillor views the site and looks at the traffic problem at school times before making any vote on this proposal.”

The site is not allocated for development in the town’s neighbourhood plan or borough’s draft local plan but the fact that SBC has not met its five-year housing supply target overrides that.

Kim Trueman from Eastrop said: “Concerns raised by residents are being disregarded and this application is being rushed through by a developer more driven by profit than local need, using the working limitations put on councils by Covid-19 to rush this through without fully consulting Highworth residents.

“If this proposal is agreed, I will feel hard done to and imposed upon and question the value of local planning democracy.”

Another neighbour argued the extra strain that hundreds of new homeowners would put on existing healthcare and education facilities in Highworth had not been considered.

Coun Alan Bishop said most of the new traffic would travel through Sevenhampton, which is “already a frightening rat run”.

He added: “When this was put forward to Highworth Town Council, it was refused unanimously. I have never seen, in all my years of planning, so many objections to one site build.

“I estimate there could be 350-400 vehicles once the site is finished. I cannot see how they can get round that.”

One uncontrolled crossing and some new pavement would be added if the plans were approved, but Coun Julie Murphy, and Coun Jane Milner-Barry suggested that would not be enough to make it safe for pedestrians.

Coun Milner-Barry added: “The road is still the width it was when there were horses and carts, and there is no pavement in many places.

“One crossing is not good enough. Children could cross from one side to the other but not cross back again to get to school.

You need a dual-use pavement or two crossings. The access needs to be sorted out before this goes any further.”

If the application is passed, Highworth will receive around £268,000 for improvements to local facilities, £90,000 for public rights of way improvements and some of the costs of a cycle link to Swindon, as well as 75 affordable homes, increased biodiversity, two large play areas and contributions to off-site sports facilities and allotments.

Highways officer Gerry Prodohl said he was concerned about the potential traffic impact of the development but there is scope for mitigation.

An approval condition requires issues at the section of road near the schools to be investigated and a solution to be implemented, like a way of easing the bottleneck or adding an enhanced crossing, before the first house is occupied.

This has now been tweaked so that more specific details have to be hashed out before the plan comes back to councillors for discussion next year.