Chippenham Town Council’s planning committee voted not to object to the latest proposal for the redevelopment of the former Vauxhall garage off the A4 Bath Road.
In April, Cinch Self Storage submitted amended plans to knock down the garage, which has been empty for over a year, and build a three-storey storage facility on the site.
Chippenham Town Council objected to previous designs for the scheme, which would have seen a larger building constructed.
John Dingle, an agent acting on behalf of the applicant, argued the changes had addressed these objections.
He said: “The most significant change is the reduction of the size of the building, we’ve reduced the footprint by a third.
“The proposed building is now comparable in size to the existing building.
“There have now only been three objections from neighbours to the planning application.”
Councillors were satisfied that the smaller plans would prevent the development from having a negative visual impact.
Cllr Michael Owen said: “Whilst I recognise there are some concerns for residents who live nearby, I have a larger concern about what might happen to the site if there is an extended period of wrangling over the plans.
“People might use it for nefarious means if it was unoccupied for months.”
Cllr Matthew Bragg voted to object to the plans and remains concerned about the impact of the new facility on traffic and noise pollution in neighbouring streets.
He added: “I’d still have concerns about the volume of traffic and type of traffic accessing the site, it’s likely to be removal vans and minivans and that sort of stuff rather than small cars.
“I think the noise and traffic might be larger than the estimates portray, so I think an alternative access to the site would be better.”
Multiple residents objected to the plans for similar reasons.
Dan Taylor said, “This is a housing estate, not an industrial estate. The size of the building, the effect on people’s life around the area the extra traffic noise.
“My back garden backs onto this site; this should not be allowed to happen.”
Teresa Bayford added: “I am concerned about the impact of new noise that will be generated by a storage facility being present in a residential area.
“This could represent a major change to the noise pollution levels of the immediate neighbourhood.”
Wiltshire Council is expected to make a final decision by July 11.
