AN APPLICATION to alter the layout of the Abbey Stadium housing development has been lodged by the developers.

Alongside the new stadium, permission was given in 2009 to build 450 houses with some commercial space.

However, due to the recession there was a severe lack of demand for the business space, which threatened to scupper the whole project, including the new stadium.

Now Landvest Houses and Gaming International, who own the land, have asked the council to change the original plan to allow them to build more houses, a dedicated car park for the new stadium and potentially a new fire station to service North Swindon.

A consultation on the proposed alterations was held last year at the current Abbey Stadium. Speaking at the time Martyn Sutchbury of Landvest said: “We have had permission for several years to build the commercial properties.

“However, soon after we had permission the recession hit and potential tenants or buyers for the business properties are no longer around.

“To put it simply, there is no-one to fill the space. We want to hurry the process along so we’ve decided to change the plans.”

Clarke Osbourne, of Gaming International, said the plans would benefit the new stadium, which will not be affected by the plans.

He said: “It will give us total control over our parking. Under the original proposals some of the matchday parking would have had to go in the free spaces of the commercial properties when they were not being used. This would no longer be the case.”

The new proposal would see roughly an extra 100 houses added to the existing site. On top of that there would be the possibility of a new fire station.

While there is no official line from Wiltshire Fire Service it is understood they are broadly in favour of the plan.

With this proposal, the Tadpole Farm development of 1,700 homes and a number of other projects, North Swindon could expand by more than 3,000 homes in the coming year.

Currently North Swindon has no fire station with the nearest being in Stratton or Westlea, while there is a part time station in Cricklade.

Plans for the new stadium are moving forward and it is expected a full application will go forward later in the summer.

The new stadium will be built on the existing car park and will have state-of-the-art facilities to ensure it becomes the first choice when venues are selected to host Great Britain races.