DEVELOPERS have put forward a second set of plans to build housing on the site of a garage in Minety.

The new proposals for the site in Station Road are for 11 houses.

They include two two-bedroomed houses, two detached houses and a variety of terraced three and four bedroomed houses.

A previous application to build 15 houses on the site, which included two flats, was withdrawn after objections by villagers who felt the two-and-half storey houses with balconies were too large and would have been inappropriate.

Many villagers had also felt that the proposal did not offer adequate parking.

Lance Parry, director of developers Hill Property, lives at Silver Street next to the Minety Motors site.

He said he fully understood the concerns of local people.

He said " I have lived in Minety for 21 years and this has got to be a good development.

"We now have a plan which is smaller in size and lower in roof space. They are two storey houses with a a' third floor in the roof space"

Mr Parry said that the new houses would not have balconies and would have parking for two cars.

Chairman of the parish council, David Brown, said the council would consider the new proposal before commenting any further.

Mr Brown said: 'We know there will be houses there but provided it is done tastefully, people will be happy. What they proposed before was not tasteful."

He said that the loss of the garage was another blow to a community which was rapidly losing its services.

Ann Pitt from Sawyers Hill, Minety, described the Minety Motors site as "awful" at present and accepted the need for redevelopment.

But she said: "If the new plans are like the last one, there will be uproar.

"It is all about making money. They want to put in as many properties as they can. I think there should be one or two bedroomed terraced houses on the site."

David Robinson sold the garage to Hill Property of Marlborough nine months ago after running it for 33 years.

Two years ago he sold his shop and petrol sales business in the face of increasing competition from supermarkets.

Mr Robinson, from Oakleaze, said: "I think more affordable houses would be good for the village."

In recent years village petrol stations have closed in Brinkworth, Hankerton and Ashton Keynes.

The nearest shop for villagers now is the combined post office and grocers in Upper Minety, about two miles away.