All the latest planning applications submitted to Swindon Borough Council.

Town Centre:  Swindon Borough Council’s plan to turn the upper storey of its listed Civic Offices in Euclid Street into the town’s museum and art gallery has been approved.

The council will be allowed to install a new lift for visitors and move walls to create a number of permanent and temporary exhibition spaces to display both the museum and art gallery’s collections.

There will also be a shop and a special room for school parties to use.

The arrangement is temporary until the council’s proposed new art pavilion is built near the Kimmerfields development – but it may be in place for up to 10 years.

South Marston: The conversion of four agricultural hay barns and building extensions between them in order to form a large single house has been turned down.

The plan by Mr and Mrs King for the barns at South Marston Farm in Horseshoe Lane would have seen the barns and some of the farmyard around them become  residential in use. But planners weren’t keen: The development by virtue of its scale, design and extent is not appropriate for this rural location and would intrinsically alter the nature of the countryside at this location. It would compromise the non-coalescence area which seeks to ensure the land between South Marston and Swindon and the NEV remains part of the countryside.”

Extensions: Applications have been put in for consent to extend houses, or build outbuildings or convert garages and lofts into habitable rooms at: 11 Southernwood Drive, Woodhall Park; 13 Campion Gate, Grange park; 19 Osborne Street, Gorse Hill; 30 St Margaret Road, Old Town; 1 Bessemer Road West, Rodbourne Cheney; 53 Trajan Road, Stratton St Margaret; 109 Eastmere, Liden, 66 Farrfield, Stratton St Margaret; 71 Goddard Avenue Old Town, which is a retrospective application.

Applications for extensions have been approved at: 47 Cheney Manor Road, Rodbourne Cheney; 166 Marlborough Road, 81 Ridge Nether Moor, Liden; 20 Sheerwold Close, Stratton St Margaret; 95 Sandringham Road, Lawn; 57 Church Walk South, Rodbourne Cheney, 10 The Crescent, Chiseldon; 34 Capesthorne Drive Haydon Wick; 164a Whitworth Road, Pinehurst.

Highworth: The first-floor extension to 22 Wessex Way and conversion of its garage proposed by Kevin Jones has been refused, even though an almost exactly similar plan was recently approved.

The difference is that Mr Jones’ new plan is to clad the extension in red cedar timber instead of bricks matching the original house, as mandated in the original permission.

Planners at the borough council said: “Due to the proposed exterior material and finish of the first-floor side extension, it would have a harmful impact on the appearance of the host dwelling and the visual amenity of the surrounding area.”

Wanborough: Applicant Victoria Evans may be disappointed by the council’s refusal of prior approval for her plan to remove the existing rear conservatory at 3 The Beanfields and construct a narrow extension to create a flat rear of the property rather than the short H shape it is now.

She may also be puzzled by the logic in the refusal decision: “development is not permitted if: “the enlarged part of the dwellinghouse would have a single storey and extend beyond the rear wall of the original dwellinghouse by more than eight metres” in the case of a detached dwellinghouse.

“The proposal only extends only 1.92m from the original rear wall, therefore this application for prior approval is refused.”

Stratton St Margaret:  The single storey rear extension proposed for 43 Headlands Grove by Henryka Pawlaczek has been refused permission because of its size. The refusal decision says: ”The proposal represents a dominant, bulky form due to its sheer scale, a similar footprint to that of the host dwelling. It disregards the character and context of both the host dwelling and the surrounding area.