SWINDON Council is looking into two possible locations to temporarily house the town's library.

The Paramount development, an art deco conversion of an old Nationwide office in Princes Street, and Clarence Street car park, near the council offices, are both under consideration as potential sites while the new Central Library is built on the existing site in Regent Circus.

Developers Marchday and The Raven Group are currently converting the Paramount office block into 200 apartments, but the 12,000 square feet on the ground floor, which has planning permission for leisure use, is considered the ideal location to act as a stopgap while the new library is under construction.

A planning application to use the ground floor of the apartment block has been submitted to Swindon Council, while a similar application to use temporary buildings on the Clarence Street car park will also go before planning officers.

A council spokesman confirmed both locations are currently under consideration and an announcement will be made on the new library site in the coming weeks.

"We are looking at a number of options to find a temporary home for the Central Library, while work goes on to build a new one on the existing site," he said.

"One of them is to place the library on the ground floor of the Paramount building in Princes Street, which is currently being redeveloped.

"Another is to accommodate it in temporary buildings on the Clarence Street car park, and a planning application for that has also been submitted.

"Negotiations are continuing, and we are confident that we will be able to announce where the library will be temporarily sited in the next few weeks."

The creation of the new Central Library is one of Swindon Council's 50 pledges and is expected to cost £10m.

The council is working with architects and English Heritage on the design of the building, which will be in keeping with the town hall, and will complement the regeneration plans for the town centre.

The new library will feature an express lending zone with leading popular titles, a children's and teenage section, an enhanced reference and business resource section and an IT facility and cafe.

Building work starts in the spring and is expected to finish in 2008.