Planning permission has been approved to bring a disused listed building in Royal Wootton Bassett back to life.

Lime Kiln House in Royal Wootton Bassett was previously used as a radio studio for Great Western Railway but has been left empty for the last five years.

Now a funeral service in the town has been permitted to transform the site into their fourth funeral home.

Swindon-based Hillier Funeral Service exchanged contracts on Lime Kiln House in July 2024 and said that if planning permission was approved they hoped to restore the building with "tender love and care."

Lime Kiln House was previously a radio studio for Great Western RailwayLime Kiln House was previously a radio studio for Great Western Railway (Image: Facebook) The family-run service is one of the oldest businesses in Swindon and has been offering funeral care to locals since 1923, with offices now in Kingshill House, Whitworth Road and Lechlade Road in Highworth.

Three months on from the exchanging of contracts, managers Becky and Mark have now collected the keys to the house, as Wiltshire Council gives the go-ahead for plans to renovate the historic house.

Official planning permission states that the house is to become "a funeral home with a caretaker's flat", and new works must match the "colour material and texture" of the existing building to safeguard its heritage.

The proposed site plan also states that the existing radio studio could be subject to plans to remodel, however exact details of this are not included in the plans that have been approved.

Hilliers Funeral Service now hopes to open the Lime Kiln House in the summer of 2025.

"Lime Kiln House is a beautiful grade II listed building, and we hope to restore it in the same way as Kingshill House," said a spokesperson for Hilliers Funeral Service.

"We will have comfortable arrangement rooms, peaceful visitation rooms and plenty of on-site parking.

"The building has been empty for around five years so it will need a lot of TLC.

"We will keep you updated on the progress and look forward to showing you around when we open.

“We are already serving families in this area and this funeral home will act as an extension to our care."