A CONTROVERSIAL housing development in Wroughton is set to be refused after council officers decided there was no need for it.

Ainscough Ltd submitted an application to build 100 homes at Berkeley Farm earlier this year following a public consultation.

However, there was an outcry from residents who felt the proposal had numerous problems, most notably that the housing would destroy a greenfield site.

Now council officers have produced a report recommending the application is rejected when it goes before the planning committee next week.

Almost 70 residents formally objected to the application while the parish council was also against the plan.

Aside from building on the land, other issues included the amount of traffic on Swindon Road and that it was not on land set aside for building in the upcoming Local Plan and Wroughton Neighbourhood Plan.

To cope with growth, Wroughton has to have a certain number of houses built but council officers felt the Berkeley Farm application was not the best to achieve this.

The report said: “The principle of residential development at this site is unacceptable as it lies outside, although adjacent to the Wroughton settlement boundary, in the countryside and so is contrary to the Development Plan.

“If consented the development would contribute to Wroughton’s housing need. However, the proposal is of a scale that is considered to be too significant for Wroughton, meeting the majority of the village’s housing requirements to 2026 on a single site. The site will not contribute to promoting the effective use of previously developed land.”

In May, Ainscough held a public consultation at the White Hart pub which was attended by dozens of locals.

Representatives of the company said the development was needed to help with the extra demand for houses in the coming years, but this has been rejected by officers.

“The council considers that the applicant’s concerns over land supply do not provide sufficient justification to outweigh the impact of allowing this proposal, and the precedent it would set, on the long-term development strategy for Swindon,” said the report.

“In its current form, in terms of the proposed scale and density, it is considered that the proposal does not sufficiently respect the setting and landscape character of the surrounding area. This would have an adverse impact upon the rural setting of Wroughton.”

The full application will be heard by the planning committee next Tuesday at the Civic Offices, with the meeting starting at 6pm.