GARAGES will be pulled down to make way for affordable housing at Gascelyn Close, Chippenham.

Westlea Housing Association has been given permission to demolish 20 garages and build five three-bedroom homes.

The garages are used by residents for parking and storage.

Tenants have now been told they will have to find somewhere else to keep their cars.

Coun Judy Rooke said she supported the application because of the need for affordable housing, but as the garages were directly behind Hungerdown Lane, she feared more people would be forced to park on the grass verges.

Coun Christine Crisp said: "I am concerned Westlea has a programme of building on garage sites.

"Even if this plan affects a small number of residents quite a number of cars will have to be parked on the roads."

Coun Crisp said Westlea had made no financial contribution to making parking spaces in Hungerdown Lane, which had benefited from a raft of recent traffic calming measures.

She said the grass verges had been turned into a sea of mud as a result of cars parking there.

But Coun Christine Reid said she was in favour of the demolition plan.

She said: "As councillors we would be making ourselves look very foolish if we turned down five affordable homes for the sake of half a dozen cars."