A PLANNING inspector has given the go-ahead for the site of a former jam factory at Easterton to be developed, despite fears over safety.

The ruling, allowing the construction of 24 homes, including three work-from-home units, was announced on Tuesday and follows a public inquiry on March 4.

Easterton Parish Council said the concerns it raised at the inquiry about the safety of pedestrians on the narrow Kings Road, which leads to the factory, remain.

Chairman Keith Jenssen said: "While we welcome the use of this derelict site, we are still concerned about highway safety on this narrow stretch of road with no footpath.

"Children are expected to walk down this road to school each day and we feel that a better solution to the site access could have been reached with some impetus from the inspector."

The site is being marketed for redevelopment by Hazlewood Foods Ltd, which ran the jam factory. It said it was delighted at the decision.

Communications director Jonathan Grant Nicholas said: "We have been working closely with the planning authorities, not only to remove this derelict area from the centre of concern, but also to provide housing of character."

The company has now employed security guards to keep skateboarders away from the site.

Young skateboarders at risk from asbestos

SKATEBOARDERS who have created their own ramps and slopes inside a derelict jam factory are at risk of contamination from asbestos, it has been claimed.

Up to 60 youngsters have been using a warehouse at the former Samuel Moore Foods centre in Easterton, near Devizes. They have taken metal and wooden cladding from the walls and used it to create a skatepark to practise skateboarding and in-line skating.

The situation came to light when planning inspector Richard Thomas, accompanied by councillors, council officers and representatives of other interested parties, visited the site as part of a public inquiry into the refusal of planning permission for a mixed development of homes and industry.

Easterton Parish Council chairman Keith Jenssen was one of the group who were astonished by what they found.

He said: "It had been known in the village that a few lads had been going through a hole in the fence to play with their skateboards, but we were quite unprepared for what we saw. The store had been converted into quite a sophisticated skateboard park, complete with an eating area."

Though there was no evidence of drug taking or any other illegal activity, Mr Jenssen said it showed evidence of much wider use than he had previously thought.

A spokesman for Kennet District Council said parents had been seen taking their children to the site from as far away as Bishops Cannings so they could practise with their skateboards and skates.

She said: "Because the cladding has been taken for the walls to make the ramps, the asbestos is now exposed to the air and is causing a health hazard.

"Kennet originally became involved because of the noise issue and that is the only way we can intervene, but the police have taken action on a breach of public order."

PC Jamie Darvill of Devizes police is the community police officer for the Lavington area. He said officers had been visiting the site regularly to warn children off.

He said: "The most I have seen there is about 20 kids but on a Friday night up to 60 turn up. They have spent a lot of time and effort building the ramps. We might have to start arresting a few to put the message out that they are not welcome there."

Jonathan Grant Nicholas, communications director for Hazlewood Foods Ltd, which closed the jam factory a number of years ago but still owns the site, said: "The situation is of considerable concern to us.

"We have repaired the boundary fence on a number of occasions but the young people have proved increasingly insistent.

"We are working closely with the council to address this unacceptable situation. The last thing we want is for someone to be seriously hurt."

Following recent police visits and the monitoring of the site by a security firm, the skateboarders have been staying away from the jam factory in the last few days.

This has been a welcome respite for near neighbours like Shawn White, who says his life has been made a misery since the skateboarding started.

He said: "You would not believe the noise that comes out of that building when 20 or more skateboards are sliding and thumping around in there.

"I have been driven from my garden and I have lost sleep at night, not because they are still skateboarding in there, but because I am so angry about the situation.

"Hazlewoods have not been the best of neighbours. They have not mended the fences as quickly as they claim and they took a long time to remove dead elm trees overhanging our garden."

Mr White was delighted that, on Friday evening, his garden was his own again as skateboarders mainly stayed away from the factory.

He said: "I may open a bottle of champagne tonight to celebrate."