The re-use of The Swindon Advertiser's old reel store behind its former Victoria Road offices has been changed by the new owners of the land. And there could be a new barn conversion on a farm in a village near Highworth in the latest Swindon Borough Council planning applications and decisions.

OLD TOWN: A plan to build flats and houses on the site of the Swindon Advertiser’s old reel store and car park has been successfully revised.

A proposal to build three terraced houses and a  block of 11 flats on the trapezoidal plot of land formed by Little London,  Albert Street and Church Road was given planning consent in 2020. The land used to be used as the car park for Adver staff and the building was the reel store for paper when the paper was printed on site.

The new owners of the land Chris James Construction Ltd thought they could improve on the consented design and applied for dome changes, including: reduction in the proportion of the windows in the three townhouses, removing the step down of the ridge line so that each of the houses remains the same height; and making the front entrance of two of the dwellings bigger, with a recessed entrance.

The company has also been given permission to  redesign the block of 11 one-and two-bed flats, removing the hipped roof with dormer windows and putting in a square, flat roof, changing the size of the windows, extending the roof terrace to Church Road and removing the rubble stone wall along Little London and putting up a brick wall instead.

HANNINGTON: Old barns and lean-to buildings in a farmyard could be knocked down, with one barn being retained to be converted into a house, if a new application is approved.

Mr and Mrs P and J Martin, of Lower Farm in Nell Hill in the village to the north east of Swindon near Highworth have put in an application to be allowed to knock down an open-sided barn and other disused buildings, keeping one to convert into an L-shaped four-bedroom house.

LIDEN: A proposal by Liden School to put up a fence measuring between 1.8 and 2.4 metres in height has been withdrawn.  The school’s application said it has a fence between four and six feet high but that it is now “not fit for purpose” and that the new fence is intended to “secure the school”.

No reason has been given for the withdrawal of the application.

EXTENSIONS: Applications have been lodged to build extensions to houses, or outbuildings, or to convert garages and lofts to habitable rooms at: 66 Bright Street, Gorse Hill; 8 Polesdon Avenue, Coate; 28 Tithe Barn Crescent, South Leaze; 85 Avonmead Haydon Wick; 21 Beverstone Grove, Lawn; 35 Ermin Street, Blunsdon; 22 Copse Avenue, Greenbridge; 58 Westlecot Road, Old Town and 29 Marlborough Road.

Such applications have been approved at:  26 Seacole Crescent, Old Town; 38 Colebrook Road, Stratton St Margaret; 10 Conyers Close, Grange Park; 2 Keyeneston Road, Nythe; 19 Radnor Street, Kingshill and 95 Sandringham Road, Lawn

An application for prior approval put in  by a Mr Woolf to build  a single-storey rear extension at 30 St Margarets Road  in Old Town has been refused

The size of the extension, and the impact on neighbours was cited by planners who said: “The excessive depth would result in visual dominance, creating a tunnel effect to the rear of the neighbouring site and would significantly affect the neighbour’s enjoyment of outdoor and ground floor living space.”

Mr Woolf is able to appeal against the decision, or put in a full application for planning consent.