COMMUNITY leaders battling for a religious site in Westbury are urging their rivals to back down or face "enormous anger and resentment".

The site on the Leigh Park estate is embroiled in a struggle between the Jehovah's Witnesses and a joint bid from Westbury Churches Together's (WCT) and the local community group.

WCT and Leigh Park Community Association (LPCA) want to use the site for a combined nursery and chapel, while the Jehovah's Witnesses have claimed it for a Kingdom Hall. Developer Persimmon Homes is obliged to build a religious facility at the Leigh Park Local Centre and must decide between the two bids.

WCT and LPCA say 94 percent of residents support their plans and are now calling on the Jehovah's Witnesses to withdraw their claim.

In a letter to the Wiltshire Times LPCA chairman Russell Hawker said: "The ultimate risk is that the Jehovah's Witnesses' proposals seriously undermine all of LPCA's negotiations with Persimmon.

"The Jehovah's Witnesses should back off now before enormous anger and resentment is generated within the local community which is meant to benefit from the local centre facilities."

Mr Hawker said the Jehovah's Witnesses only represented two per cent of the community and were threatening the building's viability as it would not generate profit under their scheme.

He added: "The Jehovah's Witnesses have never asked residents our views nor have they provided any evidence that a Kingdom Hall would provide any benefit to the 98 per cent of residents who do not want it."

But Bob Clark, chairman of the Jehovah's Witnesses search committee for Westbury, hit back saying Witnesses formed "quite a high percentage" of Leigh Park's religious population.

He said: "The biggest problem is the 106 agreement was for a religious building and what they want is not a religious building. We want it for a straightforward religious building and education centre.

"We completely comply with what was asked for. We feel we have a legitimate claim and that's all we are asking for.

"The fact that we are being classed as anti-community is bordering on prejudice to which we do object as we are very community minded. There are a lot of people on Leigh Park who actually welcome our visits.

"We have an existing place in Westbury Leigh, which we have rather outgrown and were already looking for a new hall before this came up. We certainly have no wish to upset the local community as we live there ourselves."

Persimmon Homes is due to announce its decision on the site after submitting a planning application for the remainder of the local centre this autumn.