A WAR of words has been sparked by North Wiltshire District Council over accusations that Swindon Borough Council wants to "invade" towns and villages beyond its boundaries.

The district council claims Wootton Bassett, the Lydiards, Purton and Cricklade could all be swallowed up by Swindon as it continues to expand.

It has reacted angrily to plans unveiled in the Wiltshire and Swindon Structure Plan, which will determine the direction of growth for Swindon from 2011 to 2016.

The plan is in its early stages, but currently ranks Wootton Bassett and the Lydiards as the first preferred direction of development for Swindon.

Swindon Council and Wiltshire County Council are jointly responsible for the plan and have obligations imposed by the Government to meet future housing need in the county.

The district council claims it has been excluded from secret meetings and has not been consulted on the plan.

District council leader, David Packham, said : "The proposals for the future expansion of Swindon will completely erode the setting and individual character of villages and market towns within North Wiltshire adjacent to Swindon.

"These settlements are currently protected by the requirement of rural buffers preventing coalescence with Swindon. It is vital that we fight to protect the rural buffer and preserve our thriving rural communities."

Swindon's latest Local Plan, which is a more localised version of the structure plan revealed last week says it must find space for almost 7,500 new homes by 2011.Mr Packham added: "Structure planners are focused on the aspirations of Swindon Borough Council and are not taking into account the needs and aspirations of our North Wiltshire communities.

"Assumptions on the facilities that our communities want are being made without asking for their views and input into this critical process."

But Swindon Borough Council's deputy leader, Kevin Small, has rubbished his comments as "scaremongering" and "nimbyism".

He said: "The district council is obviously trying to whip up a scaremongering campaign in the early stages of this plan to try to stop any development happening in their boundaries.

"They say they haven't been consulted, but the plan is still being worked on and so there is nothing to consult on yet.

"There will be a time for that, but it is not yet and won't happen for some time this plan usually takes about three years to complete and we've only just started.

"This attack by North Wiltshire is just about self-protection and nimbyism.

They don't appreciate that we've got to build houses somewhere."