Angry farmers are up in arms after plans to build a new livestock market were thrown out.

Developers Frogmore have applied for planning permission to build a livestock market and associated vet's surgery on land near junction 17 of the M4 but planning officers have rejected the plans without giving members a chance to debate the pros and cons of the scheme.

Faced with the future closure of the Chippenham livestock market on the Cocklebury Road site, many in the farming community are outraged, according to haulier and North Wiltshire district councillor Nancy Bryant.

"To be honest, I am spitting blood about this," she said. "They didn't even have the courage to bring this application to committee for a proper debate.

"They made a decision without having all the facts and without hearing what local rural people want and need."

Coun Toby Sturgis was also angry about the decision and accused the district council administration of failing to support the development of a new livestock market.

"They will get up to £10 million for the Cocklebury Road site and what are they putting back into the rural economy?" he said.

"Members should have had the chance to have their say about this.

"We feel totally let down by the system. What makes us cross is that it is not a priority for North Wiltshire District Council."

But district council leader Ruth Coleman denied any failure on the part of the district council to support plans for a new livestock market and said members should have called in the application if they had wanted it considered by committee.

Rules allow applications to be brought to the development control committee if the public submit five or more letters of objection, or if members call them in.

However, Coun Sturgis said they had not called in the application because a letter sent out by officers in May indicated to him it would automatically go to committee.

Coun Coleman said officers rejected the Frogmore application because they had not received enough information to support such an important development on a green field site.

"Because it is a green field site, even if we approve it, the application has to go to the Government Office in the South West for a final decision. If we were minded to approve it and sent it without all the necessary information the Government Office would simply have sent it back to us," she said.

Coun Coleman said the green field development in open countryside was such a significant departure from the Local Plan that more information was needed than for a brownfield site, including detailed economic justification for it. Officers have been in discussion with the applicant and have asked for this information but it had not been forthcoming, she said.

As the time for determination of the application reached a close, officers decided to reject the plans under delegated powers.

Coun Coleman said the district council had worked hard to find a suitable site and had suggested the former Milk Marketing Board site in Kington St Michael to Frogmore a brown field site but the developers were not interested in it.

Coun Philip Allnatt, who chaired the livestock market working party, said he supported the decision to reject the plans but wished it had come to committee for debate. He said they had to be careful the market development did not become something else in the future. "If the livestock market turned out not to be financially viable the developers could then turn round and put in an application for something else on that site like a motel," he said.

David Lane, agent for developers Frogmore Investments, said they were surprised the application was rejected but he considered it a hiccup rather then the end of the road for the plans.

"We will continue to talk to the planners and we are resubmitting an application," he said. "We thought we had given them sufficient information but they came back to us and asked for more. It is not the end of the road."