One of Swindon’s most historic walls needs checking for safety, and accommodation for rural workers is a minor theme in this week's Swindon planning roundup.

Railway Village: The historic, and listed wall of the old Great Western Railway Carriage Works in Railway Village  needs checking, according to Swindon Borough Council

The authority, which now owns the railway company’s assets, has applied to its own planning department to be allowed to carry out a survey condition of the wall between Bristol Street and the car park.

The application says: “The proposed structural condition survey and investigations seek to establish the condition of the wall along Bristol Street to inform the need for any immediate maintenance works. This is essential for health and safety purposes. The investigations would also help to inform any future development proposals.

Work will include a visual examination, removing samples of mortar to determine its composition, and drilling a 16mm hole so a camera can be used for inspection.

Anchors will also be sunk into the wall and pulled to test its structural integrity.

Chiseldon: The owners of Ladysmith Equestrian Centre in the south Swindon village have applied for permission to build accommodation they can retire to on the grounds of the business.

The couple are seeking outline permission to put residential accommodation on the land, most probably a “modest two-bedroom bungalow” so they can retire to it and appoint a manager for the equestrian business while they still own it.

Their application says that if permission is refused then the business would have to stop its current operations when they retire. Mrs Coley has been running the business since 2002.

Bassett Down: Three log cabins used by workers at the Grade II-listed mansion Salthrop House can be kept. The Conran family which owns the house has been given permission to retain the three log cabins that are sited in a cluster about 80 yards from the main house.

They were first built in 2016.

Bishopstone: A new pit to hold farm slutty so it can be more efficiently used as fertilizer has been approved.

Farmers JD Wright and Sons who run Gore Lane Farm in Russley Park have the permission they wanted to build the pit and use the slurry and dirty water it will hold to irrigate crops using an umbilical system which their application says cuts down on the need for tractor movements and also significantly reduces the odours of muck spreading.

There was one objection on grounds of conservation, as the pipeline will need to run through a small copse.

St Andrews: When a certificate of lawfulness was refused for Trevor Kenyon’s plan to enclose the two parking spaces behind the house at 6 Holloway Close, and create a garden on the site, Mr Kenyon then submitted a full planning application.

He has now withdrawn that proposal following objections from Swindon Borough Council’s  highways officer owing to loss of parking facilities and from St Andrews Parish Council on the same grounds.

Extensions: Applications have been submitted for permission to build extensions to houses, or outbuildings, or to convert garages and lofts to habitable rooms at: 28 The Bramptons, Shaw; 26 Hunt Street, Old Town; 11 Mackmurdo Avenue, Tadpole Garden Village; 198 County Road, Broadgreen; 66 Saddleback Road, Ramleaze; 42 Priory Green, Highworth; 32 Hughes Street, Rodbourne; 94 Mulberry Grove, Rodbourne Cheney; 4 Lower Close, Wroughton; 113 Swindon Road, Wroughton; 3 Tiverton Road, Gorse Hill; 15 Coate Lane, Coate; 3 Whatleys Orchard, Bishopstone; 10 Charolais Drive, Ramleaze and 20 Pauley Close, Grange park.

Such proposals have been approved for 12 Falklands Road, Wroughton; 23 Dorney Road, Redhouse; 5 Charterhouse Road, Wroughton; 61 Nythe Road, Stratton St Margaret; 4 Church Street, Stratton St Margaret.