DEVELOPERS have been given the green light to move forward with a new ski slope and leisure complex at the North Star site.

The first construction work is expected to begin next year after planning permission was granted by the council's planning committee on Tuesday night.

Transforming the former-industrial land adjacent to the Oasis has long been a priority for Swindon Borough Council, but years of delays and false starts had left many people wondering if the project would ever come to fruition.

The arrival of development firm Seven Capital at the start of 2017 signalled a shift in fortunes and renewed hope of success. Tuesday's decision to grant outline planning permission is the first concrete sign that progress is now being made.

Included in proposals are a 2,000 square metre snow and ski centre featuring two real-snow slopes.

There are also plans for a new 130 bedroom hotel, a 14 screen cinema with the largest IMAX screen in the UK, a new bowling alley.

Other leisure attractions including trampolining and climbing are also planned with restaurants and sporting retail units on site too.

It is understood that operators have already been signed up to run the key elements of the project but so far only Hollywood Bowl - a ten pin bowling firm - has been named.

John Watkins, director at Seven Capital, welcomed the decision of the planning committee to give the initial go-ahead.

He said: “This is the first and most important step to delivering this much-anticipated scheme for Swindon.

"Now we have outline planning granted, the work really begins on getting all the detail filled in ready to submit detailed planning in the New Year, after which we can get to work on making this project a reality."

The committee's vote was unanimous - all councillors welcomed the proposals in principle and some, including the committee's chairman Kevin Parry, even described it as "the most exciting application" he had ever seen.

But concerns were raised about the level of detail in the plans and about how Swindon's already strained road network was going to cope with the influx of traffic that such a major leisure destination would inevitably result in.

Des Moffatt, Labour councillor for Rodbourne Cheney and chairman of Central Swindon North Parish Council , told the committee that he would have expected more from a developer of Seven Capital's calibre, even at the outline planning stage.

He said the application was "not fit for determination" given the vague nature of the plans.

Coun Moffatt questioned where the 1,600 car parking spaces would go, whether the all-weather pitches to the south of the Oasis would be built on, how the hotel would co-exist with the Oasis and more.

He also raised concerns that feedback from Highways England had been overlooked.

"Nobody expects the detail," he said. "But just where do these elements go? We really should have a clue at this stage.

"Seven Capital are better than this, they are not the schoolboy outfit that Moirai was. Send this application back and ask for better details so that the people of Swindon can be confident that a development will be delivered that this council can be proud of."

Coun Moffatt was not alone in raising issues around highways, indeed traffic congestion problems happening now let alone in the future were a repeated topic of discussion at Tuesday's meeting.

A representative from the council's highways team sought to assure the committee that cutting edge modelling software would be used to map out the possible issues with traffic flow, but he stopped short of revealing what plans the council might have for physically changing the road network to allow it to handle the sheer volume of vehicles.

Despite these concerns, Garry Perkins - the cabinet member who has been overseeing the North Star project for some years - said the granting of permission was a great achievement.

He said he wanted Swindon to be known for having one of the top leisure attractions in the country and that it was a dream shared by the majority of residents, no matter how frustrated they were at previous delays.

"A lot of work has gone in to get to this point and I am delighted the Planning Committee has given its blessing to the outline plans," said Coun Perkins.

"I know Seven Capital are eager to get on and deliver this fantastic scheme for Swindon, which will really put us on the map and provide a huge boost to our already booming local economy."