Fifteen houses will soon be built where one stands now in Stratton St Margaret.

Ian Sullivan Architecture, a firm based in Victoria Road in Old Town , has been given permission by planners at Swindon Borough Council to demolish number 5 Wanborough Road and build 15 new houses on the land, and on some of the land behind number 1a, in the same street.

The application by the architects said: "The site represents a redevelopment opportunity involving demolishing no. 5 and a shed and replacing it with a chalet bungalow and erecting 14 two, three and four bedroom dwellings.

This will assist in addressing the borough council’s current five-year housing land supply shortfall, being 2.5 years at present."

It is considered that there is an over reliance on large strategic sites which take a long time to come forward. It is the smaller sites that bring forward housing in the short term.

The developers say they will lay out the buildings facing each other along a road running perpendicular to the main Wanborough Road, and this "retains and reflects the

character of Wanborough Road and the grain of the surrounding urban area. and the houses themselves "exhibit an appearance distinctive to the local area."

Some local residents in Wanborough Road were not happy at the proposals. One wrote: "Wanborough Road does not have the capacity for the extra cars that the site will provide.

"The road is overcapacity especially during the week.Cars are parked all along the road and round the bend to the edge of the dual carriageway. It is currently dangerous and only a matter of time before an accident occurs due to the fact that drivers have to negotiate the bend on the wrong side of the road."

Another wrote: "This road is like a National Car Park during the week, reducing visibility."

Permission has been granted with 23 separate conditions.