A FARMER has warned district and county councillors that they will face the blame for floods in and around Salisbury unless they abandon plans to build a road bridge across the River Nadder.

Malcolm Read has claimed that building the Brunel Link as a direct route in and out of the city's Churchfields industrial estate would undermine the floodplain and pose a serious flood threat to people living in low-lying parts of Salisbury and Wilton.

Mr Read, who farms at West Grimstead and is a former member of Salisbury District Council, says that householders most at risk would not even have to wait for flooding to be damaged by the bridge.

"Their insurance premiums would increase in the meantime and their property values would fall," he has warned in a letter to district council environment and transport portfolio holder Dennis Brown.

The proposed Brunel Link has been promised to beleaguered traders on the Churchfields estate for more than 30 years and is now a cornerstone of Wiltshire County Council's Salisbury transport plan.

The project also has the full backing of Salisbury District Council, which sees it as vital to hopes of freeing the city centre of heavy goods vehicles and providing a badly needed quick access to the estate for deliveries.