I KNOW I’ve been a persistent critic of Wiltshire Council, but even I find it hard to believe that the authority is looking a £1.2million gift horse in the mouth.

That appears to be the case, however, due to its fraught relationship with builders Persimmon.

Old Sarum isn’t exactly awash with facilities. There are families desperate for nursery places.

Old Sarum Nursery is eager to help, and has ploughed £80,000 into drawing up plans for a £1.8million expansion.

A £666,000 government grant has been obtained but will have to be returned if it isn’t spent soon.

Persimmon has offered to meet the rest of the bill on certain conditions, to which the council agreed more than two years ago.

But the two sides have become bogged down in a who-does-what-first argument that could scupper the whole scheme.

According to Natalie Moss, the school’s chair of governors, the council doesn’t trust Persimmon to keep its side of the bargain.

And to be fair, Persimmon has cornered the market in bad publicity recently.

However, the area’s Wiltshire councillor, Ian McLennan, believes the firm sees this project as helping to rebuild its reputation, and he has tried to mediate, persuading it to increase its contribution as costs have risen due to the delay.

His intervention has earned him a ticking-off from Trowbridge for ‘meddling and negotiating’, although looking after the affairs of his electorate is exactly what a councillor should be doing.

He tells me Baroness Scott told him the land was needed to provide employment opportunities.

In that case, he responded, how come permission’s just been granted to build 82 homes on the Harnham Business Park?

A question I’ve been asking repeatedly of those On High.

To while away the time till they reply, I’ll recap on the points I’ve raised.

Is it acceptable to approve an 82-home development on business land without any public discussion or a planning committee meeting?

How does it tally with Wiltshire’s insistence that land on another 640-home development site on the edge of Harnham, next to the cattle market, should be set aside for business?

The developer there is already arguing that this is inconsistent.

Is it not likely, therefore, that those 640 homes will eventually become 1,100 - a figure I’ve seen in site appraisal papers? If so, shouldn’t there be a new public consultation right now?

anneriddle36@gmail.com