BISHOPSTONE Parish Council could take Swindon Council to the High Court to reverse a planning decision.

Parish councillors are in discussions with a solicitor after Swindon planners granted permission for a developer to build eight houses on medieval land known as The Wyncies.

An application by Stanton Fitzwarren-based Bower Mapson Limited to build two detached houses, two semi-detached houses and a terrace of four houses on a site comprising less than an acre has been refused, granted on appeal and refused again.

The latest twist in the saga came at last week's planning committee meeting when councillors, planning officers and Bishopstone villagers spent more than an hour in a heated debate before the application was approved

Parish council chairman Rob Clark said: "We're looking into whether we have a case, because we feel it was not a democratic process and we're not happy about it.

"We're talking about eight houses on the last bit of greenfield land in the village and it's not needed. There are plenty of sites in Swindon where this development could be built."

Swindon Council has received 47 letters of objection from a village that only has 153 houses.

Mr Clark, 45, a writer and IT consultant, believes Bishopstone has increased in size by about 20 per cent in the past 20 years, but last week's planning committee heard that the preservation of a picturesque village was no reason to refuse an application.

He said: "We're investigating legal action to stop this application or even get it reheard and we think we have a fairly strong case."

The villagers think they have a particularly strong case because Government planning guidance seeks to protect villages and green space from development, while encouraging development on brownfield sites.

Planning committee member Maurice Fanning (Lab, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) said: "This application could have gone one way or another and I felt with due respect to the appeal that had gone before in favour of the application.

"We must not take the fact that places are picturesque into consideration when determining planning applications. Bishopstone is a very pleasant village, but if we felt like that then Swindon would still be a hamlet on a hill. I will sleep easy at night having made a decision to approve the plans."