AMBITIOUS plans to create a coat of arms for Penhill have been scrapped because of legal and financial issues.

The Penhill Forum, which brings together several community initiatives, launched a competition last April to find a symbolic shield to brighten the circular tower above McColl’s store, in Braydon Court.

Organisers chose a basic layout and then started seeking ideas for the specific symbols, as well as an English motto, which was to appear on the finished design.

However Marilyn Beale, secretary of the forum, said that when she researched the legal and technical side of the community-led project, she discovered the forum would have to liaise with the College of Arms.

The College of Arms, in London, is the delegated authority to act on the monarch’s behalf in all matters of heraldry, including the granting and design of new coats of arms.

Marilyn, of Avebury Road, Penhill, said: “It’s not going ahead. Had we done it, we would have had to applied to the College of Arms. We would have got into all sorts of complicated legalities, so we decided to give it a miss.

“It’s not because we weren’t bothered.

“We did discover, when we started looking for staff, we would have had to apply to the College of Arms and it would have cost money.

“And they are very particular about what you put on it and one thing and another, so we abandoned the idea.

“We have had a lot of ideas over the years that didn’t work out. You just get up and go on with it.

The project, which came out of a meeting with Swindon Council, aimed to brighten up a bare patch on the tower and involve the community in a fun and meaningful project.

Under the original basic layout, the shield was to be split into six sections, or fields.

The top two fields were to feature all the logos of local groups and the other fields were to represent local sports teams, trades and professions of people on the estate, and the local establishments, including the churches and community centres.

At the top of the shield, there was to be a rising sun, an established symbol for Penhill, which is represented on the signs at the entrance of the estate.

The shield was to be flanked by two swans, possibly one black and one white, to symbolise the Penhill Swan Majorettes, and the institutes of learning on the estate, including CLIP and the schools.

There was also to be three historic symbols on the shield, including the shield of Merton College, Oxford, which once owned the land on which Penhill was built.

The Penhill Forum originally hoped that, if funding could be secured, the coat of arms would not only be displayed at Braydon Court but could also be put on badges and T-shirts for residents to wear.