PROTESTERS turned out in force on Tuesday to fight the next stage in a long-running battle to stop 20 new homes being built in Amesbury.

Residents and local councillors were at a planning inquiry held at Antrobus House to object to plans to build the homes at Ringwood Avenue.

Amesbury East councillor John Noeken told the planning inspector the town council had been fighting the application for many years, and this was the second time it had been to appeal.

"We are fighting it tooth and nail. It's a travesty that the Ministry of Defence sold off what was amenity land to a private developer without the knowledge of residents some years ago. They believed they were buying houses from the MOD with amenity land behind."

Resident Patricia Panter, from nearby Lyndhurst Road, said: "It's being built on an incline and we are at the bottom of that incline, so our bedroom will be looking into their front room, or vice versa."

Another resident, Maggie Browne, said: "We are going to lose an open space. The amount of houses being proposed is very dense and we will lose the wildlife."

The private developers went to appeal after Salisbury District Council rejected the planning application on several grounds, including the effect on the character of the area, the design of the development, drainage issues and loss of open space.

Simon Packer, from Turley Associates, speaking on behalf of the developers, said he thought the plan stood a good chance of being approved as many of the main issues brought up when the development was rejected have now been dealt with.

The sewerage system has been adopted, some of the houses will be affordable homes, soakaways will be provided to deal with excess water, traffic bollards will be put in place to improve the safety where the access road is and money will be provided for the upkeep of the designated village green.

Planning inspector Brian Meardon inspected the site on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.