The prospect of another 77 homes being built in the tightly-packed streets of Rodbourne has got many people worried.

Developer Vinesh Aggarwal has put in an application for permission to transform the four-storey Shaftesbury Centre office block in Percy Street into 77 flats.

The building is just north of the GWR railway works complex.

The application has very little detail and even some confusing aspects. The proposed floor plans show the division of the open plan offices into 54 flats –13 on the ground floor, 15 each on the first and second floors and 11 on the third floor.

There is nothing to explain that discrepancy with the application which says the number of flats could be 77.

Neither Mr Aggarwal, of Kirkgate Wakefield Ltd based in Willenhall, near Wolverhampton, nor his planning agent Graham Onions have returned calls looking for clarification.

Mr Aggarwal does not address the issue concerning most neighbours – that of parking. The building comes with parking for about 16 cars on the street frontage and there is a car park at the rear for about 80 cars – but only some spaces are reserved for the office block and only during office hours.

The application does not explain how parking will be allocated, or even whether the residents would have use of the car park.

Ward councillor Jim Robbins posted on Facebook: “I’m trying to work out what this will mean in terms of parking. It certainly feels like a huge number of flats.”

His Labour colleague Coun Kevin Small said he knew the building well, adding: “Like Jim I am concerned about the parking and the over-development of this building.

“I was the caretaker of the site in Radio Rentals days so know the building inside out and can’t for the life of me work out how you can get 77 flats, unless they are shoeboxes.

"I will do all I can to oppose this, but with the changes in the planning laws to allow offices to be converted into flats without going through the normal planning process, we may be stumped. More cars with nowhere to park and a housing squalor on our doorstep, due to overcrowding.”

Coun Small added: “They can't claim to use the Morris Street car park, this was owned by Radio Rentals but handed to the borough in the 1970s, with priority parking arrangement for certain bays Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.

“The car park is already over-used at night, when most residential parking takes place, so there won’t be space for the extra cars.”

The application can be seen on swindon.gov.uk using reference S/PO2R/21/1162. Comments should be made before Wednesday, August 4.