RESIDENTS in Wroughton have hit out at changes to plans for Wichelstowe, which they say will have a detrimental impact on their village.

The new proposals say Wharf Road and Mill Lane are to be used as main access roads to Wichelstowe, which was not in the original plan.

A new supermarket and district centre is also being built but the location of this has changed from west of the canal to the Wroughton side in the field on the left of Mill Lane.

It is also being proposed that Wharf Road and Mill Lane should be used for Wichelstowe construction traffic, as well as existing commuter traffic and direct access for the 8,000 cars coming from the west and south west.

Residents are being urged to attend a public meeting later this month to discuss the changes.

Petitions are also being set up in a bid to get enough signatures to get the issues debated by Swindon Council which owns the land in a bid to get the plans changed.

In the latest edition of Wroughton Monthly, a resident said: “There are a lot of changes being proposed by Swindon Council which negatively impact our village and rural buffer.

“If this is agreed, there will, in effect, only be two points of access to Wichelstowe “One would be via the existing junction at the bottom of Pipers Road and Croft Road, and the other is the Mill Lane route – both of which impact on Wroughton, its setting and our local traffic conditions.

“The new access from Redposts Drive, will revert to buses only during peak commuter times to protect Rushey Platt residents, placing yet more pressure on the routes within Wroughton parish.”

A Swindon Council spokesman said no changes had been made that would affect the rural buffer.

He said: “Wharf Road and Mill Lane have always been routes into Wichelstowe, but there are others – the Croft Road and Redposts Drive routes already exist, and there will be a new route from Junction 16 in the future.

“Nothing has changed to affect the rural buffer between Wichelstowe and Wroughton.

“All construction traffic must follow three approved routes into Wichelstowe which have been agreed with contractors and developers to minimise nuisance for residents. “This has been the case since planning approval for Wichelstowe was granted.

“Construction vehicles going into the Wichelstowe site from the south must come via junction 16 along Wharf Road and not go through or near Wroughton.

“The routes are published on the wichelstowe.co.uk website and there is a form there which residents can use to tell us if they see any vehicles which are not sticking to these routes.

“The supermarket is still planned for the centre of Wichelstowe and the routes people will use to get to it are not expected to change.”

The public meeting will be held on May 24 at 7pm at Ridgeway School to discuss the changes and the impact they could have on Wroughton.

The meeting is being held before the proposals are submitted to the planning department.

For more information on the new proposals visit the website www.wichelstowe.co.uk.