PIZZA Hut will not be moving to Trowbridge after planning officers turned down an application for a £2m revamp of a business park.

Officers at West Wiltshire District Council, using delegated powers, have turned down an application to expand the Spitfire Retail Park in Bradley Road, leaving developers fuming.

Agent Robert Goard, of Bristol-based firm Building and Design Partnership said: "We are pretty angry and surprised.

There has been no consultation from the planning officer and we had no early warning of the possible outcome. They seem to have been treating the application as if it was for a brand new retail park but what our client wants to do is lift it into the present day."

To pay for the upgrades to the 20-year-old site owners Standard Life had hoped to included a Pizza Hut restaurant within the car park and extend three of the units. Mr Goard said the car park is underused and a small restaurant in one corner would offer more choice to visitors on a site which only has a McDonald's drive-thru.

Planning officers decided the applicants failed to demonstrate the need for further retail space at the park. They also said the application did not prove there were no other viable sites for development or that the proposal would not harm the vitality and viability of the town centre.

Mr Goard said the extensions would give more room for storage and would not increase retail floor space, although it would have revamped the existing store fronts. It was hoped up to 24 new jobs would have been created.

Last month planning officers turned down an application for a 12-metre high advertising sign outside the retail park. Mr Goard said he would be strongly advising his client to appeal against the decision but also hopes to hold talks with planning officers to see if a compromise can be reached.