THE future of the vital Flowers town centre site in Chippenham is to be decided by an independent planning inspector because no-one locally can agree.

Negotiations about how the crucial site should be developed have dragged on for years.

The sprawling former scrapyard site, owned by the Flowers family, is the last piece of major undeveloped land close to the town centre. It sits between Wood Lane, the River Avon and Gladstone Road.

A previous bid to build a huge food superstore on the land failed.

Now the plan is to build houses, shops, offices and leisure facilities, but the disagreement is over the number of low-cost homes that must be built.

The Flower family wants to build up to 80 houses on the four-acre site and says North Wiltshire District Council is insisting on too many low-cost homes.

The council wants 30 per cent of the housing to be low-cost but developers say that would make the scheme unprofitable.

Now the scheme will be decided by a government planning inspector who will sit at a planning inquiry that starts on August 20.

Chippenham district councillor Philip Allnatt said: "It's a hugely important site. I have been arguing for eight years that we should adopt a comprehensive approach to planning this area. You can't take one piece of the jigsaw puzzle in isolation.

"It would be wrong to have all housing. We desperately need more car parking and more good quality retail and leisure facilities and we need to make better use of the river frontage."

The site remains undeveloped because everyone in Chippenham has a view on what should be built there.

Chippenham Town Council says it is vital that any development includes shops to strengthen the town centre.

The site sits alongside the Borough Parade shopping mall and the aim is to link the two.

Councillors want to see fewer houses and extensive leisure facilities including a new cinema, a ten-pin bowling alley and a fitness centre.

They say better facilities are vital to encourage people to spend their free time in Chippenham rather than travelling to Swindon, Bristol or Bath.

The inquiry is expected to take two days. It will begin at 10am at the Council Offices in Monkton Park.

Planning Inspectorate spokesman Sue Nash said the inspector was likely to give his ruling within two months.