Residents gathered to hear the latest stage of plans to develop Bradford on Avon's Kingston Mill site at a meeting on Wednesday evening.
A two-day workshop, chaired by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, will now try to resolve disagreements over the development at the site, owned by Taylor Woodrow.
Paul Murrain, senior design director at the Prince's Foundation, said: "If you look at what has been built since the Second World War you can understand why people are terrified, especially in a place as beautiful as Bradford and Avon."
But he added: "All the great towns in the world have been built by people who want to make money."
Architect Edward Nash said the development model, previously displayed in Bradford library, was only 25 per cent of the way towards a design and is a work in progress.
The two-day workshop will end with a report to the public tonight in St Margaret's Hall at 6pm.
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