Part of the area on which developers want to build university campus and 1,800 homesTHE developers who want to build at Coate have been accused of jumping the gun. North Swindon MP Michael Wills says he is baffled by the developers' decision to submit their plans for the site before results of the local plan inquiry are known.

But the developers, who want to build a university campus, 1,800 homes and a business area at Coate, say they wanted to submit the plans so a fully informed debate could take place at the inquiry.

Mr Wills said: "The sensible thing would be to wait for the inspector to produce his report then for all of us to consider it and have a proper discussion," he said.

"This is the whole future of the town. I am surprised that the developers have decided to bang on ahead when every one else is waiting for key information to emerge.

"It is baffling why the developers thought they needed to rush ahead with this.

"This seems to me to be jumping the gun."

But the Gateway Partnership said they felt it was important to submit the planning application before the inquiry to ensure a fully informed debate could take place on the proposals.

"Indeed, the local plan inquiry took place last month and there was a useful debate, which would have been

much less informed if the planning application hadn't been submitted," a spokeswoman said.

"No decision on the Gateway application is expected until after the outcome of the public inquiry is known, probably in the autumn of this year."