THE future of a controversial housing development will be decided during a six-day inquiry later this year.

An application to build 100 homes at Berkeley Farm, in Wroughton, was rejected in November last year amid public anger, but Ainscough, which is behind the proposal, appealed the decision.

The Planning Inspectorate has been gathering submissions from all the involved parties and has now said there will be a hearing, set to get underway on November 24.

It is not yet known where the inquiry will be held or who will be called to give evidence as an inspector has not yet been assigned.

However, even if the application is refused it may not be the end of the battle for locals as Ainscough have submitted a second, almost identical application for Berkeley Farm.

No-one from Ainscough was available to comment but within the planning application documents for this second proposal, the developers say they believe the reasons for refusal, that there was already enough land in Wroughton for development, were wrong.

The planning statement says: “We now submit a second application for the proposed development and include additional supporting information and evidence in order to address the previous reasons for refusal. Importantly, this includes substantial additional information and evidence to demonstrate that the Council cannot demonstrate a five year housing land supply.”

Despite only being submitted a few weeks ago, the new application has already provoked a strong response from residents opposed to the development.

Deirdre Vincent, of Priors Hill, who wrote to object, said: “The proposal would add to the heavy traffic already using the main through road in and out of Swindon and access to the site is in a dangerous place for pedestrian and children going to and from school.”

Mark Covey, of Manor Close, said: “The site is greenfield and our Parish Council have already identified enough brownfield sites to meet our new housing allocation.

This extends our village too far to the east and would set a precedent for development of the other green fields east of our village south of the M4.”

The council has previously said it will stand by its reasons for objecting to the original decision last year.

Speaking when it was first announced Ainscough was appealing, a spokesman said: A spokesman said: “We will robustly defend the Planning Committee’s decision to refuse this application.”