VILLAGERS are petitioning against a plan by Bowood Estate and a garden centre to install a £340,000 roundabout on the A4 at the Studley crossroads, because they say it is too big.

In the planning application the developers claim the roundabout will help reduce traffic speed and help pedestrians and cyclists cross the A4 safely.

Villagers say they support plans to improve safety, but object to the size of the roundabout, which they fear will create more safety issues than it will solve.

More than a hundred people living in Derry Hill and Studley have signed a petition opposing the scheme, which will be presented to North Wiltshire District Council when the plan is put to the development control committee.

Janet Robbins, who has lived in Studley for 30 years and who started the petition, said: "I had a real concern that there was an assumption that the community was in favour of the roundabout because they thought it was the solution to the road safety problem.

"But this is only round one. We have got to be able to inform the district council and the county council of our concerns."

Calne Without Parish Council has recommended the district council should reject the plan.

In a letter to the district council the parish council said it feared the roundabout would create 'rat runs' for speeding traffic in Studley Lane and Church Road, where Derry Hill Primary School is located.

The Reverend Derek Frost of Derry Hill's Christ Church, said: "I think the worry in the village is that it may encourage more traffic through the village and if it does we would like some road calming measures.

"Traffic travels very fast down Church Street where there is a school and a church, which are used a lot. If there was more traffic there would be a risk to folk getting in and out of the church and to children being picked up and dropped off at school."

In a statement, the Marquis of Lansdowne, whose family has owned Bowood for more than 250 years, said: "The existing turning into Derry Hill and Bowood House is on a fast stretch of the A4 that has seen 13 accidents in the last three and half years.

"Installing a roundabout will provide safer access for everyone using this dangerous and busy junction."

The planned roundabout measures 52 metres in diameter, is nearly four times the width of the road and has been designed to include a possible fifth access point.

Parish councillors said the size of the roundabout, which would include street lighting, reflected an urban development and was not in keeping with the rural environment.

They were concerned the roundabout would sever Derry Hill from Studley, which relies on Derry Hill's amenities, including its shop, post office, school and village hall.

The Bowood Estate spokesman said the roundabouts potential fifth access point could be used to service the development of a four-acre piece of land called Redhill Phase V.

He said the development of this land for housing has been a long-term goal for the estate for a number of years.

He said there were no plans to develop land on the village side of the A4.

But in their letter the parish council, said: "The highway improvements should be considered as part of the planning process for these developments rather than as part of an application for Blounts Court Nursery, which clearly does not need such a huge roundabout itself."

The roundabout is part of a £1,000,000 investment into Blounts Court Nursery, by Swindon businessman Neil Cowley.