VILLLAGERS in Purton should be wary of stealth development, says a local advisor after scrutinising plans to double the capacity of the Parkgate Farm composting plant.

Proposals to increase the capacity to 50,000 tonnes were rejected last year, and Hills Waste Management has come back with updated plans to mitigate the impact of traffic and smell.

The company is also asking to make their site permanent, along with an access bridge which was only supposed to be temporary until 2024.

Dr Richard Pagett, of Purton, said to make the bridge permanent would be to open up acres of countryside to industrial suitors.

“We need to be aware of this sort of development by stealth,” he said. “Every increment can be very small but when you look back over it you are left with something on a much bigger scale.

“This is bigger than Hills and is really about the future shape of Purton, and I do not think we should change our landscape for the sake of a composting plant.”

The road over the bridge has brought HGVs through Mopes Lane and neighbouring Cricklade, causing misery for residents.

The plans are being opposed by Cricklade Town Council on the basis that there could be alternatives.

“What they are trying to do now is to use this application not only to double capacity but also to slip in the permanency of the bridge,” added Dr Pagett. “That is entirely not what was promised because the bridge was always going to be temporary.

“Once it is made permanent there will be more and more industrial units going into open countryside, and Purton village will be opened up to a lot of industrial development.”

Mark Clarke, chairman of Cricklade Town Council, said: “There has been an idea floated of putting in a separate access road to the south of the site rather than along Mopes Lane, where a track already exists. To upgrade that track would be ideal for Cricklade so HGVs do not come through our town.

“There is no sign of that discussion being on the table. As it stands we are objecting to making the site permanent and increasing the limit.”

A spokesperson for Hills said: “Parkgate Farm has been identified as a strategic site for waste management in Wiltshire and is considered suitable for composting activities. Hills’ current planning application is the same as that submitted in 2013 – to retain the access to the compositing facility at Parkgate Farm, impose a limit on green waste tonnages and give up the consent for tyre recycling at the site. The increase in green waste for composting from households in Wiltshire saw 35,000 tonnes of material processed at the facility in 2014.

“Although there will be a small increase in vehicles associated with bringing more of the county’s green waste to the site, it is calculated at one vehicle per hour, which has been assessed as being well within the normal daily variation in traffic flows on local roads.”

The application can be commented on until Thursday at www.wiltshire.gov.uk with reference number 15/00401/WCM.