FAMILIES living in Wilcot Road in Pewsey are preparing to take on developers at a planning inquiry in the New Year.

Bradgreen Properties is appealing against Kennet District Council's refusal to let it build 19 homes in Wilcot Road.

The developers want to put 11 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom homes on land behind the Crown public house.

People living in the street have formed the Wilcot Road Residents' Group to oppose the scheme because of traffic problems they foresee it would bring.

They are now planning to renew their opposition in readiness for the public inquiry that will take place on February 15 in the Scout Hall in Slater Road.

An inspector from the Deputy Prime Minister's office will head the hearing and listen to the views of the developers and the objectors.

Michael Atkinson-Willes spokesperson for the residents' group said: "Our objection is not to the new homes but to the new access it is proposed to make onto Wilcot Road."

Plans show the access to the new homes emerging onto Wilcot Road between the Crown and Pewsey Metal Recycling premises.

He said that to provide a satisfactory visibility splay the access would have to protrude into and take up virtually half the width of Wilcot Road.

It would do away with roadside parking that many residents in the immediate area currently rely on because they have no off-street parking.

Mr Atkinson-Willes said children from Pewsey Vale School and the Primary School who share a campus in Wilcot Road walk along the road on their way to and from school.

Wilcot Road was already dangerous, he said, because drivers from as far away as Devizes use it to get to the village's mainline station.

The local authorities had already recognised the problem, he said, by installing traffic lights at the railway bridge.

He said: "It has become a major thoroughfare for people from Devizes heading for the station.

"It would be fair to describe it as having become something of a rat run."

To prepare for the planning inquiry the residents group has contacted the national charity Planning Aid for advice, Mr Atkinson-Willes said.

The group is meeting every Monday evening at 6.30pm in the Crown to discuss and plan its strategy for the planning appeal in February.