LYDIARD Park, the Carriageworks and the Mechanics Institution were among the ideas thrown up in a consultation over the future home of Swindon's museum and art collections.

Rod Hebden, director of the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust, said there had been few surprises among the scores of suggestions offered by members of the public.

All of the ideas will now be handed over to Swindon Borough Council, which will assess the options for where the collections could be housed. The new options appraisal process follows an unsuccessful attempt by the trust to win a multi-million pound lottery grant to build a new museum.

Hundreds of people offered their ideas on social media, while around 70 written submissions were sent to the trust.

Dr Hebden thanked them to getting involved in the consultation: “I was amazed to see how quickly people took up the challenge to help find a new home for Swindon’s collections.

"Social media was buzzing with ideas and debate, and we’ve been inundated with people contacting us to offer their thoughts.

"We’ve ended up with a much longer list of options than we started with, as well as some very strong and well considered arguments for and against many of the options which we already knew about. There are a lot of opinions about what would be best, and there is certainly no consensus for any individual solution.”

The options appraisal will be considered by Swindon Borough Council over the autumn.

Peter Troughton, interim chairman of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust, said “I’ve been very impressed by the council’s willingness to consider all options which the public have raised and to assess them all fairly and without bias.

"It will be up to the council to make the final decision, but it is encouraging to see that they will be doing so with a balanced view of the opportunities and challenges that all of the options present.”