A PARISH council has drawn up its own village strategy in order to give planners its views on exactly where some 2,000 homes should end up.

Silvia Brown, one of South Marston’s parish councillors, said the body decided to take the steps in an effort to work with the Eastern Development Area (EDA) planners rather than against them.

As part of the scheme, which Mrs Brown calls all but a ‘foregone conclusion’, 12,000 homes will be built just east of the A419 between Wanborough, Bourton and South Marston.

She believes the village’s best option is to lend a hand to the planners rather than battle against plans and end up having a poor development forced upon them. And last night villagers, who gathered at St Mary’s Church, Old Vicarage Lane, were able to view the village strategy, which the parish council has spent 12 months developing – with the help of some 300 residents’ views.

Mrs Brown said the strategy points out a number of problems with the current plans, which includes a lack of facilities for would-be villagers, but largely focuses on one major issue – traffic. She said: “The centre of the village is at the junction of three roads called Pound Corner with no pavements throughout.

“Our solution, as opposed to the current plans, was to move the village centre to be closer to what is now the recreation area and expand it.

“By doing this we believe we can retain some sort of identity rather than being simply swamped with houses.

“We have also looked at new brownfield sites for the homes, which would be ideal, as they are quite ugly at the minute and are closer to the entrance of the village. The strategy would be much more acceptable to everyone if there were to be housing at the end.

“For the time being though we are being stymied by process.”

She added that by the time the first part of the development begins, in about five years, every utility in the village would also have to be completely revamped including sewage treatment, electric and gas supplies.

One villager, at the packed meeting, questioned how the money will be gathered together during the recession.

Ian Sullivan, an architect from South Marston, said: “With the economy like it is I would like to know who is going to pay for the infrastructure the bridges, tunnels and roads?

“I also think the plans spread out longer than they need to, it’s such a shame to join up Bourton and Shrivenham, it should be confined to Swindon and not go so far north.”

Issues were also raised about the village’s poor electricity supply and ongoing concerns over flooding. The parish councillors said they would also like to hear from members of other communities, which the EDA encroachs on, including Covingham and Dorcan.

Contact the parish council on 01793 827515 or email clerksmpc@aol.com