Something rotten in the state of Swindon?

At the same time in September that Swindon Council's cabinet decided to back the multi-million pound bid to the Heritage Lottery fund for the restoration of Lydiard Park, the council's planning committee added millions of pounds in value to the rotting Mechanics' Institution by agreeing outline planning permission on the thinnest of pretexts.

Central Area councillor David Nash asks the difficult questions that the councillors on the committee shied away from.

Swindon's history is wrapped up in the development of the railways and nothing symbolises the decline of our identity so dramatically as the state of the Mechanics Institute. When Forefront Estates took over the building, hired appropriate architects to advise them and started tidying up, I was encouraged that a revival was imminent. Now I'm not so sure.

The planning committee's decision to allow a 'change of use' for the Mechanics seems straightforward. As they stressed, all they were agreeing to was to change the potential use of the building. Instead, I believe they have issued an instruction to Forefront to do what they like.

All of the uses agreed to - such as a hotel, a casino, luxury flats and all-night wine-bars - could be completely unsuitable for a conservation area. It depends on context and to understand that you have to have detail. Forefront have not provided any.

It appears to me that the council's planning officials have bent over backwards to smooth the path to a development of this building without considering the significance of the building or neighbouring residents. As the director in charge told me what else could they do? Forefront are the only show in town.

Well, here are a few suggestions.

1. The planning officers report could have taken English Heritage (EH) seriously. EH said that they could not recommend the plans - because there weren't any. This expert advice was dismissed by both officials and councillors on the committee.
   
   
2. Planners could have ignored Forefront's threats to walked away unless they got planning permission. They have invested at least £250,000 in the building, so far. Would they really have abandoned such an investment? It's a common threat by developers, and one the committee should have faced up to.
   
   
3. Planning officials could have taken the views of the Mechanics Institute Task Force into account. This was set up last year by the council, involving English Heritage. It agreed that the New Mechanics Institution Preservation Trust should build up its business plan as a possible solution. Far from Forefront being the only show in town, it appears that the planners deliberately glossed over any others.

I am left with strong concerns about the role of planning officials in all of this. It's now almost impossible for the planning committee to turn down detailed plans on the grounds of inappropriate use.

Given how broad the outline permission is, provided the owners comply don't knock the building about, the detailed application could be anything.

What I'd like to know is this, what could possibly have induced our planning officers to tie the hands of the planning committee in this way? And why did the committee allow it to happen?

For more information on the Mechanics Institution: www.new-mechanics.com