The need for a large hole to be dug at the front of a house in Old Town has led to the proposal to convert an existing basement into a flat being refused.

Developer M Rajah had put in a plan to turn the basement of 58 Western Street into a separate flat.

The main building is at the very northern end of Western Street, wrapping around the corner into Swindon Road.

Mr Rajah’s plan was to turn the basement of the building which is currently separated into two by a wall, into one flat.

It would have two bedrooms at the front of the building giving on to Western Street, with an open-plan kitchen lounge and dining room behind and a utility room and bathroom furthest from the street.

At the back, a small patio garden would need to be excavated.

With access to the flats from the house above being blocked off, in the plan, access would be from Western Street, but a hole three metres deep, extending 2.2 metres into the pavement and along the entire seven metres length of the house, would be needed, along with a staircase, to allow that access.

And while planners at Swindon Borough Council were not entirely convinced by the excavation of the rear patio, it was the need for the hole in the pavement at the front that was the real sticking point.

In the report refusing permission for the scheme, planning officers said: “Such a subterranean feature would be uncharacteristic of properties within the local residential area, and the scale of such excavation would be visually intrusive particularly when viewed from the north looking up Western Street giving the sloping topography in the street-scene.

“Overall, it is considered that the siting, design and appearance of the proposed basement flat scheme with associated earthworks would adversely affect the character of the area.”

Mr Rajah has the right to appeal to a government-appointed planning inspector if he wants to try to get the decision overturned. If the appeal doesn’t go his way, then it is possible to take the matter to the High Court in certain circumstances.