After a major consultation exercise by Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust (PCT), the board has agreed with recommendations to close units at Devizes and Malmesbury.

The services will most likely be transferred to Chippenham and Trowbridge.

However, this is not the final decision: a fresh round of consultations on this plan will be launched in April.

A recent review by West Wiltshire PCT into maternity services in Wiltshire and Somerset confirmed there are too many beds for the number of births, which are expected to drop in the coming decade.

Residents were told that "consolidation of beds onto fewer sites is still an option".

The services looked at were provided by West Wiltshire PCT to people served by Bath & North East Somerset, Kennet and North Wilts, and Mendip PCTs.

Patients from bordering Cotswold and Vale and Swindon PCTs also use the services.

They are provided in the Royal United Hospital at Bath, and community hospitals in Chippenham, Devizes, Trowbridge, Malmesbury, Frome, Paulton and Shepton Mallet.