The £700 million redevelopment of the former Honda site in South Marston can go ahead.

Developer Panattoni, the company which built the huge Amazon warehouse just down the road from the Honda site, had brought plans to build 12 industrial or warehousing buildings on the site.

Those plans were approved by members of Swindon Borough Council’s planning committee in a meeting on Tuesday evening.

Addressing the committee, development director of Panattoni James Watson said: “The development will add a value of £295m per annum, or £1.2 billion over the first decade, to the local economy.

Swindon Advertiser:

“There will be 7,000 jobs created on the site – at its peak Honda employed 5,000 people.

"As well as the 7,000 jobs directly created, there will be 5,000 additional spin-off jobs created.”

He added: “If this is approved, Panattoni’s priority will be to secure the international and UK businesses for the site, and offer residents of Swindon good employment opportunities as soon as possible.”

After comments in support from South Marston Parish Council, and the borough council’s cabinet member for strategic infrastructure Gary Sumner, members of the committee raised questions and concerns about noise and the height of the buildings, and also questioned why solar panels won’t be built on the roofs from initial construction.

After a brief discussion members voted by 12 votes to one abstention in favour of the development.