NEWS that a major development in Melksham has been scaled down has been welcomed.

A new plan unveiled earlier this October revealed that developer Wainhomes Southern had discarded a proposal to build 17 homes on a pocket of land off Union Street in Melksham.

The new plan for only three new homes, and the conversion of a building to a fourth home was discussed by Melksham Town Coun-cil's planning committee on Mon- day night.

In the original plan, 12 homes would have been built within feet of Clackers Brook, which is prone to flooding.

In the new plan the homes lie just inside the 100-year flood plain.

Cllr Angie Barker said: "I am certainly pleased to see a reduction of the development on the site.

"But the plan does not clearly show how far the gardens extend into the area of natural habitat and flood plain."

She said the town council needed to know exactly what was happening with the protection of the flood plain.

Brian Hunt lives next door to the site. He said: "I have talked to the people living in the area and most seem quite happy about it."

It is not certain whether the application will mean a loss of on-street parking in Union Street but Mr Hunt said cutting down the traffic in the road was not such a problem.