THE owners of Old Sarum airfield have spent a “seven-digit” sum to silence steel-cutting machinery at a neighbouring business.

Vibration from the Colgar Shear equipment at Equinox International is a longstanding problem affecting nearby buildings and it would have blighted some of the hundreds of houses proposed at the airfield.

Now, having negotiated an agreement with the would-be developers not to use the equipment within three miles of the airfield, Equinox has decided to close the custom-built site altogether, according to airfield boss Grenville Hodge.

Nobody could be contacted at the company to discuss job losses.

In a newsletter sent to Laverstock and Ford Parish Council, Mr Hodge says the deal has “removed a heavy and relentless burden from the shoulders of Wiltshire Council” which last year reached a legal agreement with the firm, limiting the machinery’s operating hours.

Mr Hodge also says the airfield owners have “very reluctantly’ made changes to their plans in the face of Wiltshire Council officers’ objections.

New private hangars will not now have residential accommodation built in, and “a slice” has been taken off the southern boundary of one of the development areas, Sarum Landings.

A deal with Highways England will see the developers pay half a million pounds for the Castle Road roundabout traffic lights to be computerised. This is designed to increase capacity and offset any increase in traffic from the extra housing.

And roads around Ford will be improved with new footpaths, traffic calming measures and a crossing.

Mr Hodge says a deal has been agreed with Wiltshire that, subject to planning permission for the development being granted, there will be controls over noise from flying.

It will mean that noise levels will not exceed those in 2015.

He says Wiltshire will be arranging another public consultation “shortly”.

The parish council says the 462 homes now proposed are only 18 fewer than before, and this still amounts to overdevelopment in a conservation area with poor infrastructure.

It would double the size of Ford, where roads cannot cope already.

And paying a large sum to Equinox, with the loss of local jobs, is “of great concern and cannot be condoned”.

The parish council says keeping aircraft noise to 2015 levels is irrelevant as the new housing will be closer to the airstrip than existing homes, and residents may well complain.

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on Equinox’s plans, as that is not something the council has been involved in.

“We are still in discussions with the developer regarding the planning application, and once amended plans are formally submitted we will consult on them if and as necessary, as we would with any other planning application.”