THE OWNER of the former South Marston Hotel site has claimed the development “will take years to sort out” because of red tape relating to noise pollution.

Paul Cripps said a developer is ready to build homes but alleged the deal to sell the land is being held up by Swindon Borough Council’s planning department.

The former hotel and leisure complex on Old Vicarage Lane has been practically razed to the ground after being vandalised and set on fire last summer. Eerie drone footage posted on YouTube has since shown it resembling a bomb site, almost two years after it shut with job losses.

Mr Cripps said: “We have been backwards and forwards for the last couple of years trying to get planning permission. We go to the council with plans and they tell us, ‘this is what we want’.

“We go away and do it and see them in a couple of weeks and they say, ‘this is what we want now’.

“That’s how it’s been going all the way. I have a housebuilder on board and everything’s agreed. It was all going through then last year they sprung on us that there’s a noise issue."

The businessman, who lives in Bermuda, claimed he was being asked to contribute to the costs of mitigating noise from premises belonging to Synergy Health in South Marston.

He said: “There’s a factory in South Marston called Synergy Health making noise that some neighbours have complained about. It’s not above a level where the council can do anything about it but it’s upsetting the neighbours. So they are saying any new development nearby has got to make a contribution to soundproof their factory. We have been told it’s roughly going to cost £300,000 from all the developers in the area but they don’t know exactly how much. We have been waiting a year for Swindon to tell us what this figure is.”

Mr Cripps claimed he had commissioned his own survey which showed the noise did not affect the proposed development site, and a barrister had said he did not legally have to contribute towards the costs of the mitigation work.

Mr Cripps said: “I thought we were there and now a week ago we were all ready to go and they sprung it on the housebuilder that we have to sort the noise out.

“They said all the new eastern houses would pay a contribution, and ours would be about £8,000.

“I said it’s not worth fighting for £8,000, I’ll pay it and sell the site to the housebuilder.

“At first they said roughly 2,500 houses across the Eastern Villages would all contribute about £8,000, then they said it’s only the houses locally but they didn’t know the cost and mechanism of putting it right. That’s it, we’re stuck.

“This will take years to sort out.”

Synergy Health did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Cripps now intends to fight the noise stipulation in what he expects will be a drawn-out process.

“We are going to get another noise survey done and if it proves we are not affected we are going to put that to the council again and if they ignore it we are going to go to appeal,” he said.

“If we win that all the costs will be down to the council. I have got interest-only debt on that site which is costing me a lot of money. This is not a money-making exercise.

“I’m trying to cut my losses. What I’ve been offered for it is a lot less than what I paid for it and the money I put into the hotel to keep it afloat.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “When the planning application was made it became apparent that noise from a nearby industrial unit would have an adverse impact on future residents of the site. As a result, planning conditions were attached to the outline permission, which require the developer to mitigate the impact of this noise.

“The council is keen to ensure this development is not delayed and is working proactively with all stakeholders to ensure a solution is reached.”