RESIDENTS concerned about the future of the Locarno attended an urgent public meeting yesterday.

The meeting was held by Swindon Civic Voice, a charity that aims to improve the town’s environment, after a planning application was submitted to Swindon Council by landowner Gael Mackenzie through site developer Steve Rosier, asking for permission to demolish the listed building.

They have also resubmitted a proposal to turn it into a 117-room hotel. This plan was rejected by the council in February last year.

The meeting on Saturday at Moose Hall attracted dozens of residents and aimed to gauge public opinion on the two proposals and on the group’s own ideas for the building.

Chairman Lisa Hawkes said: “I was really pleased with Saturday’s turnout – it shows that people obviously care about the building.

“It was more of an information gathering day, finding out what residents’ views are on both applications, and we are here to demonstrate that there are some uses for the building that are sustainable.

“I know the residents are worried about traffic and over-bearing.

“The Old Town night-time economy is doing extremely well with lots of little wine bars but during the day it is not so good.

“We’d like to see the community using the building, be it a library, swimming pool, bringing the market square back.”

During the meeting, local historian Dick Millard gave a presentation on the importance of the hall and showed the audience a selection of pictures of when the building was used for meetings of the Vale of White Horse Hounds, council meetings and music concerts, some dating back to 1900.

Lisa then gave a presentation on a possible use of the hall, including a bowling alley in the underground area, a library on the first floor, and a market hall, pool and assembly room.

The plans also included a viewing point for members of the public in the clock tower.

“Let’s not forget, this is the middle of a conservation area,” she said.

“One of the things we thought was odd about the application for the hotel is they are thinking of putting an Italian plaza on the site – this is Swindon, in Wiltshire, in England – why not have an English market square?

“We have a very squashed in library in Old Town. If we could convince the council to move the library into this space, the Arts Centre could return to being an arts centre and not doing dual capacity. We know Old Town is missing amenities for recreation, so we thought a small leisure pool would be a good idea.

“Something needs to be done sooner rather than later.”