A NURSERY project in Melksham has won the support of town councillors in an attempt to sort out a planning wrangle in time for it to open in September.

Building work on the new neighbourhood nursery, next to Lowbourne Infants School, is well under way but a planning condition to repair the car park next to King George V before the nursery can open has proved to be a sticking point.

Governors say they cannot afford a six-figure repair bill but Wiltshire County Council's highways department has refused to accept a plan to spread the work over three years.

A new application to remove the planning condition and reduce the number of car parking spaces outside the nursery from six to four was approved by town councillors at a meeting held on Monday.

Cllr Sarah Cardy said: "It is a question of money to do the work to the level that the highways department want in the car park that is the problem."

Negotiations are continuing between the two parties and the school has now submitted a 'justification' of why it wants this planning condition removed.

Town clerk John Crook said conditions can only be removed once an applicant has submitted a detailed explanation to be considered by the planning authority.

He said: "The school needs to open on September 1 and they are currently in breach of this planning condition. Everybody understands the situation but you can't put a condition on a planning application and then take it off just because someone asks you to."

The highways department and the district council will now consider the application.