COUNCIL chiefs will submit a plan to the government’s heritage quango later this year that could see hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in the Railway Village.

Planners at Swindon Borough Council are working with community groups and charities to prepare a Heritage Action Zone bid. The Historic England-run scheme sees successful towns given consultant support to kickstart the regeneration of often unloved historic buildings and areas.

It is hoped that a Swindon heritage zone bid could result in the eventual restoration of the Mechanics Institute. It is not known exactly how much cash the borough is bidding for, but one successful action zone bid in Weston-super-Mare brought in around £1m.

Karen Phimister, a planning policy officer at Swindon Borough Council, presented the plans to South Swindon Parish Council. She said: “We’re really enthusiastic about this in the planning team and we think it could bring significant benefits to the town. Apart from funding resources and expertise from Historic England, this is an opportunity to build bridges with local community groups that haven’t always been smooth.

“The money wouldn’t be enough to refurbish something like the Mechanics Institute, but we believe it could provide the impetus towards the regeneration of key buildings like that.”

Although generally supportive, councillors fear that it could be yet more warm words for down-at-heel Swindon heritage.

Janine Haworth, parish council vice-chairman, said: “I’ve nothing against the project, but for years and years we’ve had the borough council promise over again to do things.

“One of the things was just to bring the Railway Village back to how it was before the Second World War by putting the railings back in that had been taken away and melted down. That never happened. The planters were supposed to be removed. That never happened.

“We’ve been down this route so many times, I don’t want residents to feel they’ve been let down yet again.”

Swindon mayor Junab Ali, who this weekend stressed his commitment to the town’s historic buildings, added: “I need to see meat on the table to be able to support this.”

Ms Phimister admitted that in the past there had been “a lot of talk and no action”. But she said the time was now ripe for the scheme, with the council hoping it would spur on other high profile developments like Kimmerfields, The borough parted ways with developer Muse last year.

“These projects have been slow in coming forward and the assessment is that it is partly due to Swindon’s poor image in the wider area and low land values,” said Ms Phimister. “If we can get on top of the heritage assets we are the custodian of and improve them and make the best of them, then it will signal to the market the council is doing its best and hopefully make it financially viable to bring these bigger projects forward.”

The Heritage Action Plan is backed by the Mechanics Institution Trust, the community group trying to renovate the 100-year-old landmark. Director Daniel Rose said: “A Heritage Action Zone is an important way of focusing attention, skills, funding and strategy on the town’s most important conservation area but also an area in desperate need of some TLC and sense of joint working from all partners.

“Whilst this project wouldn’t fund the restoration of the Mechanics’ it would help lay the foundations for future bids to do so and also help resolve some of the numerous issues in the wider village such as the traffic issues, poor street surfaces and signage.”

The bid will be submitted in August, with planners finding out next April if they have been successful.