PLANS to build homes on a former Bradford on Avon gasworks are being strongly opposed.

Developer Lattice Property Holdings wants to build a terrace of four, three-storey four-bedroom homes on the site in Frome Road.

The site has been empty for years because it is contaminated from its use as a gasworks.

The builders will have to clear the land of any toxins before construction work can go ahead.

But town councillors are deeply opposed to the part of the scheme that involves putting in traffic calming measures in Frome Road.

They say putting in speed cushions would make it more dangerous, not safer. Town clerk Diane Holmes said: "The suggested traffic calming will be visually disruptive on the important approach to the town, and the safety aspects do not appear to have been properly considered.

"Although speed cushions have a restraining effect on the smaller four-wheel vehicles, the design and siting have to be extremely carefully considered if they are not to cause a danger to motorcyclists and cyclists, and inconvenience to emergency services.

"Two-wheel vehicles would be directed into a narrow section of the road, and this has been shown in other cases to be a dangerous manoeuvre."

Town councillors want any traffic calming to be done as part of an overall plan for the whole town centre. Mrs Holmes said: "Proposals for traffic calming should be designed as part of a co-ordinated exercise.

"They should not simply be included arbitrarily to permit access to a small private development.

"Frome Road is one of the major routes in and out of Bradford on Avon, and the quality of any proposed alteration should be designed accordingly."

Planning experts at West Wiltshire District Council say the site is ideal for housing as it is a brownfield site.

Previous development schemes at the site have been turned down because they did not fit in with the character of the historic town.

District councillors were meeting last night to discuss the scheme.