PROTESTERS have vowed to continue the fight to stop 300 houses being built on land beside Quakers Walk, dubbed the green lung of Devizes, after it was revealed that the homes are to be squeezed on to four-fifths of the original land.

In the replacement Local Plan, which covers the period up to 2011, Kennet District Council had earmarked 300 houses and a new primary school to be built on green fields at Quakers Walk and stretching to land at the Wiltshire Police headquarters.

But following a period of consultation, which resulted in 93 objections to the proposal from people who want the land to be kept undeveloped, Kennet is set to bow to a request from Wiltshire Police Authority not to build any of the houses or the school on its land.

Council planning officers are now recommending changing the original proposal so that all the housing and the school is built at Quakers Walk, a cut in the total area from almost 20 hectares to 16 hectares but with the same amount of houses. The access road across the police land remains in the plan.

The proposed change will be discussed by Kennet's local plans sub-committee today, starting at 10.15am.

Kennet's planning services manager Brad Fleet says in a report to the sub-committee there is sufficient capacity at Quakers Walk for the development and that it will not compromise the provision of a landscaped edge between the development and the Quakers Walk footpath.

But Devizes Mayor Tim Price said: "It's going to be too dense. We at the town council feel there are alternative sites where land is suitable for housing. We want to see houses in Devizes there is a great need for them but they have got to be in suitable places."

Peter King, chairman of Roundway Parish Council's planning committee, said: "This proposal overrides the present Local Plan which designated the site as an area of minimum change and it deprives the whole population of Devizes as well as around the town of a country walk amenity."

Roundway Gardens resident Jenny Harrison said: "We must try and keep Quakers Walk as a green lung in Devizes. People feel the proposal will completely ruin an amenity the whole town and visitors use. It's a wonderful place for people of all ages to walk."

Kennet received a total of 1,620 comments to the replacement Local Plan of which 1,314 were objections.

One of the concerns was that too many houses were being planned for Devizes and that housing should be spread around the district.

If the changes are agreed by the sub-committee the public can raise objections in another round of consultation next March or April. If these objections cannot be resolved a public inquiry will be held towards the end of 2001.

MORE than 1,000 objections have been sent in by residents unhappy about proposals in the replacement Kennet District Local Plan.

The Local Plan covers the period up to 2011. It sets out where housing should be built and also allocates sites for employment and other uses.

After public consultation, Kennet District Council has received 1,312 objections and 284 letters of support. The previous Local Plan prompted 850 objections and 127 representations of support.

Housing proved the most contentious subject, accounting for more than half the total objections.

The council hoped its sub-committee would consider all the objections to the Local Plan at one meeting, but the volume of objections has forced it to dedicate one meeting solely for housing. The first session will be today at Browfort, Devizes.

Objections to the rest of the Local Plan will be discussed at a meeting in January.

Brad Fleet, planning services manager at the district council, said: "We were quite surprised at the number of representations.

"We had quite a lot last time, but we had a huge public participation programme this time in an attempt to get some sort of consensus and hopefully overcome a lot of objections. But that has backfired somewhat.

"A lot more people have become aware of the Local Plan."

Many objections have been made to proposals to build most new houses in Devizes rather than spread housing around the Kennet district.

A total of 755 houses are planned for Devizes on top of 400 houses already in the pipeline, but Kennet planning officers are not recommending any changes in the numbers of houses or sites proposed.

The only variation planning officers are recommending is at the Quakers Walk site in Devizes, which received the most objections with 93.

A total of 300 houses together with a new primary school was planned to be built on greenfield land at Quakers Walk and part of Wiltshire Police's land at its headquarters at London Road.

But after an objection from the police planners are now recommending the 300 houses and school be built entirely on the Quakers Walk fields.

After Quakers Walk, the second most controversial site was Chopping Knife Lane, Marlborough, where it is planned to build 150 houses on the school site.

A total of 29 objections against this proposal was received but no changes are recommended by planning officers.

Following objections by Wiltshire County Council, planners are recommending the proposed site for a replacement primary school at Collingbourne Ducis is changed from south of Gilberts Piece to be next to the village hall.

It is also recommended leisure, recreational, retail and employment use be considered at the Northgate, Wharf and Devizes Hospital sites along with the 150 houses proposed.