A MAJOR new retail park could bring hundreds of new jobs to Chippenham now detailed plans for a new B&Q warehouse and Pizza Hut restaurant have been approved.

DIY giant B&Q will be the dominant player in the £10 million development, on the site in Bath Road between the railway line and the Herman Miller building.

But English Nature has insisted that the site's slowworm population should not be forgotten when the project gets underway.

Outline planning permission for the scheme was granted early in 2003 and on Wednesday last week members of North Wiltshire District Council's development control committee approved the detailed plans.

Developer Parkridge Developments plans building a 5,700sq m, three-bay retail warehouse, a garden centre compound, builder's merchant and restaurant.

The site will employ around 230 people and Pizza Hut will take the restaurant slot.

Parkridge's managing director Philip O'Callaghan said it was a good site with a high profile and the development would be good for the town.

He was confident B&Q would bring quality jobs of all levels to the town.

The site lies within the framework of the town and will need a new access with a right turning lane on to Bath Road.

Previously it has received planning permission for warehousing and industrial uses. Planning officers at North Wiltshire District Council had concluded the development would not have an adverse effect on the vitality and viability of Chippenham town centre, though it may affect the two closest DIY retailers, Focus and Homebase.

The county highways department expressed concerns about the impact of the development on the Rowden Lane and Melksham Road junction, and English Nature requested a management plan for the slowworm population.

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's biodiversity officer Mark Lang said: "Wiltshire Wildlife Trust did not object to this planning application because it included provision for a survey for slowworms, and appropriate mitigation measures.

"Slowworms are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and developers are required to take reasonable steps to protect them."

Responding to the detailed plans, planning officers said the warehouse would be a dominant feature in the area. A local resident had requested a ten metre landscaping belt along Bath Road and officers have asked the developers to incorporate the request into their landscaping plans.

Parkridge's development director Carlo Navato said the firm needed to wait for paperwork from the district council but it hoped to start work on the site within a month of the meeting.

If all runs to plan the new B&Q and Pizza Hut could be up and running by the end of the year.