RESIDENTS are preparing for battle again to stop 158 homes being built on former allotment land at Spitalcroft, Devizes.

Kennet councillors will be asked next Thursday to decide the future of the piece of land at Windsor Drive, where Robert Hitchins Homes wants to provide allotments to replace those lost at Spitalcroft.

Protesters fear the approval of work at Windsor Drive could lead to the go-ahead for new homes at Spitalcroft.

Kennet councillors have already received 46 letters of objection from residents to the application to build homes at Spitalcroft, including one signed by 20 residents of The Croft sheltered flats.

The objectors point to the proposed access points at Meadow Drive and Brickham Road, both narrow residential streets, and complain they could become a rat run for motorists trying to avoid the increasingly heavy traffic on London Road.

Protesters also object to the loss of another green space in the town as well as the unacceptable quality of the Windsor Drive site as replacement allotments.

Alan Padwick, chairman of the residents' protest group, Save Our Spitalcroft, said: "It makes no sense that they should approve the Windsor Drive site for allotments. Nothing has changed since it was last considered and it is so inferior to the Spitalcroft site it doesn't bear comparison."

Kennet planning officers have recommended next week's meeting approves the new allotments at Windsor Drive.

In a report they said: "The issue of whether the application site is a suitable alternative, comparable site to replace the former allotments at Spitalcroft is not relevant to the consideration of this application.

"The main issue in this application is considered to be whether the visual impact of the development is acceptable.

"Members found on the previous application that it was not. Neither the extent of the site nor the proposal have changed since that decision."