30501/2A PROMINENT town eyesore has been pulled down after years of uncertainty over its future.

Residents living near the former GEC in Melksham said they were glad to see the back of the old engineering factory, which closed in the early 1990s, but believe a rare chance to bring more shops to the town has been missed.

Developer JS Bloor is hoping its 98-home plan for the land in Beanacre Road will be given final approval, but residents told the Wiltshire Times they wanted shops, not houses.

Former owner Charlie Tull's plan to bring an American-style designer discount store to the site was scuppered in 2000 when the Government called in the project.

Many residents blamed shop owners in Melksham, Chippenham and Trowbridge, who claimed their trade would be damaged by the £6m out-of-town development.

Grace Brooks, 77, who has lived in nearby Granville Road for the past 50 years, said the town centre had nothing to offer.

"I am glad to see the GEC pulled down but I am disappointed as Melksham is terrible for shopping," she said.

"Shops would have brought people to the town. I went to Street where they have factory shops and people were saying it has brought more trade their way.

"I went to a meeting where they discussed having a shopping centre but the traders were blocking it.

"We have got a town that is dead. It is all takeaways and charity shops.

"They could have had a lovely lot of people coming to Melksham."

Neighbour Mari Nellis, 64, said she remembered the GEC when it was formerly Spencers.

"It was a very busy site, with lots of workers going in and out," she said.

"I never liked the building. It was built in the early 1900s and in my eyes it looked like a prison block. I know some people did like it.

"I wouldn't have been against a leisure centre or factory shop on the site."

Both residents said they hoped plans for a relocated train station would come to fruition once the housing development is built.

Jayne Redwood, 39, of Granville Road, said she thought the former GEC building was an eyesore, but was concerned about extra traffic filtering onto the already busy A350.

JS Bloor's application for the 1.4-hectare development is due to go before West Wiltshire District Council's planning committee.

At a meeting last month Melksham Town Council said it was concerned about a lack of information on affordable housing.

Under district council rules, 30 per cent of all new residential developments in towns have to be affordable housing.