CONTROVERSY continued to plague Warminster Town Council planning committee on Monday with one member claiming his absent colleagues had let the public down.

At the previous meeting two weeks earlier Cllr Andrew Davis stormed out of the council chamber during a row over the location of a telecoms mast. He claimed two other councillors were accusing him of backing the mast because his own mobile phone was served by O2.

On Monday Cllr Davis hit back at this apparent slur and criticised the low attendance from councillors, which meant two applications had to be deferred to the next meeting.

He said: "I'm sure out of those members at that meeting there were people who had family and friends who use O2. I left because it was a personal knock on me."

Unusually, Monday's meeting saw a number of residents turn up to give their views on a plan to build a detached bungalow on land in Highbury Park, Warminster. But the application had to be deferred as the committee could not vote because of low numbers. With councillors Martin Baker, David Lovell and John Syme absent, the number of eligible voters fell below the minimum of four when chairman Bill Parks had to declare an interest.