WORK has started on the demolition of a town centre car park in Swindon, paving the way for the next stage of a major regeneration project.

Much of Sunday was spent taking down the footbridge which linked the Carlton Street car park to the bus station.

The car park is now to be demolished over the coming months to make way for the second stage of the Kimmerfield development.

Covers will be put up over the car park in the coming days before it is taken down.

Later in the summer, the 40-year-old Wyvern car park will be demolished, along with the pedestrian footbridge over Princes Street.

Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Haydon Wick), the cabinet member for regeneration, said: “There is no doubt that the car parks are an eyesore so it is right we get rid of them.

“They are not designed for modern cars. The spaces are too narrow and you can see the scratches on the wall.”

This will eventually see a new bus station built on Fleming Way along with new office space, shops and hotels being built on the land. Before these shops are built Fleming Way will be levelled out, thereby getting rid of the underpass. The council has received government funding for to progress with this.

This will then mean the new bus station can be built, thereby freeing up the land to progress with the final stage of the Kimmerfield project.

Coun Perkins also says Muse, the developers behind the project, is in talks with a number of interested parties regarding the offices and believes once this is in place the project will move forward at a much faster rate.

He said: “My understanding is that the company behind Kimmerfields is talking with a number of potential tenants for the offices.

“Once they are in place it will kick-start the whole project. We saw that with Regent Circus. Once Morrisons and the cinema were signed up the rest fell into place and within 15 months it was up.”

It is expected work to level off Fleming Way will start in the next couple of years. When completed, it will mean the road is only available to buses.

“Work should start in 2016 or 2017,” said Coun Perkins.

“It has been delayed slightly because of legal battles over certain bits of land we are buying but they will be sorted shortly.

“Once we have started this then businesses can see what it is we are doing and then there will be no excuse for them.”