The broken and falling tiles on the outside of a major car park in Swindon town centre will be replaced.

There have been barriers around Whalebridge multi-storey car park at the corner of Princess Street and Fleming Way for years since cracks started appearing in the terracotta tiles cladding the outside.

Several of those tiles have broken off presented a significant danger to passers-by.

The first crack appeared in 2018 just five years after the car park - which cost Swindon Borough Council £12.4m - was opened.

Now - four years later the council - has been granted planning permission to replace all the clay tiles with aluminium fins.

The council’s application to its own planning departments said: “Replacement of the existing terracotta fins/cladding on all external elevations of the multi-storey car park with extruded aluminium fins/cladding of like-for-like colour (powder-coated terracotta), designs and dimensions.

“The existing terracotta fins/cladding have failed (cracked/blown) as a result of frost damage, stemming from an initial design error.

“They are currently unsafe and unsightly. The proposed aluminium replacements will be more weather-proof and robust, and more aesthetically pleasing when compared to the failed existing fins.”

Councillor Kevin Parry, the council’s cabinet member for service delivery, waste and transport, said: “It has taken a considerable amount of time to resolve the cladding problems with the car park due to the complicated nature of negotiations with the contractors involved.

“However, we’re pleased to report we have reached an agreement for the terracotta fins on the car park to be replaced at no cost to the council and, in addition, a significant contribution will be made to our administration and legal costs.

“The legal wording of the settlement agreement is close to being finalised so we cannot comment further at this stage as everything still remains ‘subject to contract’. We still need to finalise some technical details with the contractor, but we are hopeful work to carry out the improvements can begin later this year.”

The car park was an early plank in the council’s ambitious plans for regenerating that area of town and linking up the business district north of Fleming Way to the main shopping area.

When it opened, Coun Garry Perkins, who was then the cabinet member for the town centre, called the car park an investment in the future and the first part of the Kimmerfields developments.

He added: “It was built for the 3,000 jobs which will come when everything is finished.

“If we did not do this then Swindon would become an economic backwater.”

As the new Zurich headquarters in Kimmerfields nears completion, and work has started on creating a Bus Boulevard in Fleming Way, the repairs to the Whalebridge multi-storey may be seen as timely.

The council has previously received criticism for the time it has taken to effect repairs.

In 2019 the former Mayor Junab Ali, whose Central ward covers the area, said: “It’s a total shambles. The car park was only opened a few years ago and it has tiles falling off it.

“It was sold to the people of Swindon as the answer to all of our problems. It’s been a total waste of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.”