“This can’t be a talking shop. You have the people here who want to help, who really care. But we want to see something actually done. We need action.”

The applause which followed one member of the public’s exhortation at a "conversation" around the future of Swindon's heritage buildings earlier this week left Cllrs Jim Robbins and Marina Strinkovsky in no doubt at how much people want something done about its heritage buildings.

Swindon Borough Council's leader and cabinet member for heritage, arts and culture were hosting the event at UTC which touched on what to do about assets including the Mechanics' Institute and the Locarno.

Swindon Advertiser: Councillors Marina Strinkovsky and Jim Robbins, and Bob Wright of the Mechanics' Institution Trust

But Cllr Strinkovsky made much of what else Swindon has. She drew applause and recent cheers when she said: “Isn’t Swindon amazing? I says this as someone who chose to live here as an adult: just the things we have in our town blow my mind.”

The councillor listed: "A stately home and park straight out of Jane Austen, the oldest surviving continually functioning Turkish Baths in the country, we have two stone circles, two brutalist theatres, Roman tile kilns, art deco Civic Offices, an iron age fort, a canal that one connected us to London, and dinosaurs.”

Members of the public heard from the Director of the RAU Cultural Heritage Institute and from Grace Sorley and three youngsters from the Bristol-based 16-25 Project about how to involve youngsters in a town’s heritage.

One said: “It allows you to feel more part of part of the community. Young people and old people educating each other.”

The heart of the event was questions from the floor. One gentleman asked whether the owners of the Locarno and Mechanic’s Institute were fulfilling their legal responsibilities and drew a laugh when he said: “The scaffolding around the Mechanics’ has been there so long it’s going to be listed soon.”

Cllrs Robbins and Strinkovsky said they had recently met with the Mechanics owner, the first such meeting for more than a decade.

In response to a question about using crowdfunding to help get a positive response, Cllr Robbins said: “The Mechanic’s was built by public subscription, and I’m sure there are many people who’d pay a small amount regularly to help it.”

Afterwards, Cllr Strinkovsky said: “The thing that most impressed me was the passion so many people have for their heritage, and that’s what we need.”