THE approval of plans for 250 new homes next to a busy Highworth road could pave the way for more proposals on the other side of the road to be given the green light.

There are applications for three other developments that would be built opposite the Shrivenham Road site where Gladman has just had the go-ahead for its own new properties.

This approval came despite strong opposition from the town council and worried neighbours who expressed serious safety concerns which the developer pledged to address by installing a light-controlled crossing on the narrow road and extending the footpath.

Star Planning hopes to build 80 homes directly across from the farmland, next to Persimmon’s already-approved 50-home Wrag View development which looks onto the Fox Roundabout.

Hares Landscape has proposed the construction of 45 more dwellings which would be sandwiched between Wrag View and an approved 65-property site from Backhouse near Redlands Close, using the latter estate to access the main road.

Another 50 properties could be built by Bewley Homes further along Shrivenham Road in a corner of the Wrag Barn Golf Club.

Coun Julie Murphy is chair of Highworth Town Council’s planning committee, which has objected to the three applications and recommended that the borough council turn them down for similar reasons to the objections against the Gladman site.

It is feared they would add a dangerous amount of traffic to an already-congested road and make the street harder to cross safely.

There is also a worry hundreds of extra residents could put a strain on the town’s infrastructure – not just roads, but existing schools and GP services too.

The borough’s planning committee overruled these concerns when approving the 250-home estate so history may repeat itself when the other housing plans are considered.

When the Wrag Barn proposal was first brought forward, Coun Murphy criticised the fact that it assumed the 80-home site next door would be approved and add a footpath, even though this development is still in an early stage of the planning process. 

And it mentioned the crossing provided by Gladman’s 250-home estate which is only now going ahead.

The Star Planning and Hares sites are not earmarked for development in either the neighbourhood or local plans. 

The 80-home proposal would be outside the town’s settlement boundary and, councillors suggested, not in-keeping with the idea of Highworth being a hilltop town. Nearby villages connected via Shrivenham Road voiced concerns about traffic and an archaeology group objected.