A SEWAGE works is to be extended to meet demands for further growth in Malmesbury. The sewage works in Swindon Road will be extended in March to increase the capacity by 45 per cent.

The work is likely to cost around £4.5million and take a year to complete.

A spokesperson for Wessex Water said: "We are extending the treatment works to allow for additional growth within the town in Malmesbury and improve the quality of treatment further.

"We are going to slightly extend it to the east of the works. We are putting in new equipment to improve quality of treatment and so we can remove phosphorus from the sewage.

"It's in quite a rural area so we will also be doing some landscaping and screening so that it is sensitive to the area.

"We are doing a lot of work over the next five years to meet tighter standards and meet the demand expected with the result of growth in the area."

Town councillor Charles Vernon said many in the town felt work needed to start.

"They have been renewing and enlarging a large sewer that serves the north of Malmesbury over the last couple of months," he said.

"There's always been a feeling in Malmesbury that we have not got the utility infrastructure to support much more housing in the town.

"There's been incidences of sewers overflowing during bad weather so it looks like something the town needs."

The work comes as planning applications have been granted or applied for at The Filands, where 150 houses are planned, the Suffolk Arms, where 17 houses are proposed, Athelston Garage, where 13 houses will be built, and on the old swimming pool site.