FEARS that Devizes Road in Hilperton could become a rat run if Trowbridge Rugby Club moves to land on the edge of the village have prompted the parish council to object to their plans.

Councillors who met last week are also worried about the size and prominence of the planned clubhouse, and want to ensure the land is never used for houses in the future.

Chairman Ernie Clark said: "The club say 75 per cent of people using it come from the Trowbridge area and we are worried those people would cut through Devizes Road rather than going round the Hilperton relief road through Paxcroft Mead."

Mr Clark, who favoured a plan to block Devizes Road, which already has a 20mph limit and speed humps, in his recent unsuccessful campaign to be elected as county councillor for the Hilperton area, says the parish council may take up the campaign to close the road as a way of safeguarding local people in the rugby club plan goes through.

"Personally, I think that would solve the problem. It might be unpopular but it would work," he said.

"Whatever you do you will annoy someone. I am sure most people, even if they moan about it for the first few months, would find their quality of life would improve."

The parish council has made the initial objection to the rugby club plan in order to ensure it is discussed by West Wiltshire District Council's full planning committee, and not just decided by planning officers. Club officers gave the council a presentation about the scheme earlier this year.

The club wants to move from its present cramped Green Lane home to a new ground off the A361 on the edge of Hilperton, opposite Paxcroft Farm, where pitches and facilities would ensure its survival and pave the way for expansion. It plans to fund the facilities by selling the Green Lane ground for housing.

Hilperton parish clerk Marylyn Timms said: "People understand that the rugby club needs to be moved and everyone wants people, especially young people, to have this facility, but it has got to be right and at this stage there are things we are unhappy about.

"We will discuss it in full at the meeting in June and send planners a detailed response then. There were three issues we were concerned about: the size and prominence of the clubhouse, which we felt could be visually damaging in its present form; that the location might encourage the use of Devizes Road as a through route and that if the district council is minded to give permission we would want to see the land remain in perpetuity for recreational use only."

Mr Clark believes closing a road could also be the answer to another rat run problem he foresees in another area of Hilperton.

"What concerns me as a district councillor is when the Gap road is built, unless something quite drastic is done to Marsh Road and Hill Street then if people want to go from Devizes Road to Staverton they will just continue to go barrelling through the village," he said.

"People in Semington have found that even with signs saying 'No Through Road' people still go through the village. They are in a slightly better position because one of those signs is right outside the police HQ and officers do monitor it. That would not work in Hilperton.

"Again, blocking the road would upset people but it would solve the problem."