NEW flats could make parking issues in Westlea even worse, councillors feared.

Plans were submitted to turn an old office building known as Minerva House on Welton Road into 28 flats through the construction of a two-storey roof extension.

The provision of car and cycle parking spaces for these flats has become a point of contention.

The application contains designs for 107 spaces even though 117 would be needed.

Despite this shortfall, the plans came to Swindon Borough Council with a recommendation that they be approved.

A Highways department representative explained that the plans were acceptable and the shortfall wasn't significant because the missing spaces would have been allocated for visitors to the site.

He reassured councillors that there were enough spaces for all able and disabled residents.

However, parish and ward councillors feared that this would exacerbate pre-existing parking problems that have plagued the area for some time.

Coun Keith Williams, chair of West Swindon Parish Council's planning committee, said: "Oxford Brookes University are very close to it and they have an influx of hundreds of vehicles for healthcare students that they don't have enough parking for, so the cars are parked on the sides of the roads nose-to-tail.

"Also, one-bedroom flat could have more than one occupant, and thus need more than one space."

Coun Jim Robbins said: "There's absolutely no way I can approve this when it does not meet our standards.

"Highways' advice sometimes goes against everything you know about an area and the people in it."

Coun Stephanie Exell agreed: "Any shortfall in an area that has such an issue with parking is significant.

"If there is already a problem, you don't add to it.

"There's a possibility of harming an area that's already suffering."

Coun Garry Perkins said: "It's not adding pressure to the existing parking problems in the area.

"This building needs to be brought back into use and could provide low-cost housing for Oxford Brookes students."

Coun Vera Tomlinson said: "I agree with Garry, we desperately need low-cost housing in Swindon.

"I've never seen an application as boring as this one, it's like a '50s design, it's so ugly, it looks awful.

"I'm sorry if I'm upsetting people on the back row, but I don't like it at all, and I don't believe that all of the people living there will have a car."

Coun Robbins retorted that the flats would not be affordable enough for students.

A motion for the application's refusal received an equal six-six result in favour and against.

Somewhat bizarrely, a second motion to grant the application had a different result - five in favour and seven against.

Since the committee could not come to a decision on the application, a final motion to defer the application to another meeting was suggested and passed by 10 votes to one.