SEX shop bosses are targeting Warminster in a bid to open a new town centre store selling adult material.

Three locations in the town have already been looked at after a company made an inquiry to West Wiltshire District Council.

Adult shop bosses and council staff are set to meet next week to firm up the approach which could lead to the submission of planning and licence applications.

But plans to open a shop selling pornographic material and sex toys in Warminster have already been slammed as offensive by a church group.

Reverend Stephen Wood, of the Christian Fellowship Church based in Warminster unsuccessfully opposed a previous application for an adult shop in Trowbridge two years ago.

He said: "These places are ungodly, there is nothing good about them or justifiable about them.

"A shop like this is offensive and it ruins marriages and relationships.

"They attract the wrong kind of people and how could anyone possibly back such a place with the chance of children walking past or even going near the sort of people that use them?

"I think there will be some major objections here in Warminster."

The company behind the inquiry has not yet been named but it is understood they are considering the next step after a meeting with the council next week.

Adult shop 2Blue opened in Trowbridge in 2002 but has confirmed the inquiry has not come from them.

Daniel Moore, owner of 2Blue, said: "I don't know what the fuss is all about. Shops like this don't sell sex we stock marital aids, if we were Ann Summers we could open on the high street.

"We have solicitors, estate agents and office workers as our customers, how can they be seen as the wrong kind of people?

"To oppose an adult shop in Warminster is backward thinking, good luck to whoever made the inquiry."

Currently the district council does not have a policy for dealing with applications on adult shops but this fresh inquiry has prompted councillors to set one up.

But the council does have the power to impose restrictions on location, signage and windows once an application has been submitted.

Richard Wiltshire, portfolio holder for licensing, said: "Obviously location would be a highly sensitive issue and we would need to make sure it wasn't offensive to children.

"The location would be something we would look at if the inquiry becomes a planning application."

An adult shop can be opened in a retail premises without planning permission but owners will need a licence to trade.