Routing buses away from Railway Village in central Swindon and especially Emlyn Square with the Mechanics’ Institute building at its heart should be better for the people who live there and some of Swindon’s most historic buildings.

That’s what the councillors behind the public consultation on changing bus routes being held by Swindon Borough Council are saying.

The authority is proposing to re-route all westbound buses from Emlyn Square, Church Place to Faringdon Road and Park Lane. This would remove all bus movements from the southern and western sides of the Mechanics’ Institute building at Emlyn Square, with no changes to bus journey times forecast.

There are no changes planned for buses travelling to access Swindon town centre and the railway station.

The cabinet member for the town centre Matty Courtliff said: “This has been raised by members of the public with me, as well as organisations like the Mechanics’ Institute Trust.

“Railway Village is primarily a residential area and people don’t want to be living where buses are coming by so frequently.”

And frequently those buses come – with nine different services using the streets around Emlyn Square.

In a 10-minute period in the middle of the day the LDR saw 12 buses using Emlyn Square, turning off Faringdon Road and then having to describe three 90 degree turns to head west down Bristol Road to Church Place.

Buses coming the other way use the very narrow stretch of road between the Mechanics’ and the pedestrian underpass to the Designer Outlet. Such is the potential conflict between the buses and pedestrians the footpath has had to be widened and barriers outside the door to the tunnel.

The cabinet member for transport Gary Sumner said: ”It’s not just the people of Railway Village that we are looking to benefit by this.

“The buildings are some of the most historically important in Swindon – they are not built to withstand the daily shaking by buses, and we hope this will help preserve them and benefit us all.

“We have worked with the bus companies who use the area and these are their favoured solutions.”

Coun Courtliff added: “We are regenerating the Heritage Action Zone and this all goes with work on the Health Hydro and the tunnels and Station Road hopefully with the aim of getting the Mechanics open and in use again.”

The public consultation runs until Friday November 4. Views on the matter can be sent to the council via its online form on Swindon.gov.uk