PARISH councillors at Pewsey have turned down an offer of two pieces of community land from Kennet District Council.

The parish council agreed unanimously on Tuesday to tell Kennet that it does not want the two grass areas in Swan Meadow, which were offered free with the condition that they could never be developed.

Several councillors made the comment that Kennet was trying to get rid of the land to avoid having to maintain it any longer. Coun Bert Shorter said: "This council has no money in its budget to maintain it so we don't want it."

He said one of the pieces of land was used as a dumping ground and if the parish council assumed ownership it would be responsible for clearing it.