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Press Releases
Inside Out: Inside the Mechanics
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91Èȱ¬ cameras have been allowed into one of Swindon's most historic buildings for the first time in more than a decade.
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The Mechanics' Institution, at the centre of Swindon's historic railway village, was a focus for community life for more than a century. It housed a theatre, a library and a snooker hall.
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But the doors have been firmly closed since 1986.
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Now, the 91Èȱ¬'s Inside Out West programme has been given exclusive access to see what has become of the building.
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The footage reveals the building is in a terrible condition but, with a little imagination, it is easy to see how grand the facilities once were. The splendour of the Victorian design is still breathtaking.
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The building is slowly crumbling while a huge battle is fought over its future.
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The owner, property developer Mathew Singh, has recently opened a Planet Bollywood Indian restaurant in Swindon.
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He wants to turn the Mechanics' into a hotel with more than 100 bedrooms. He is also planning flats, a gymnasium, cafes, an art gallery and offices.
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But Mathew's plans have been turned down by English Heritage.
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In a statement they told the 91Èȱ¬: "We felt the proposal put forward for a hotel, including a very large extension, was too detrimental to both the building and the Great Western Railway village."
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Mathew cannot understand why he is not getting planning permission. He says he has followed the advice of the council and English Heritage and radically scaled down his original, much bigger, design only to be told he still cannot go ahead.
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He says: "It has to be something spectacular but the people around me, the officials, don't see it that way."
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Martha Parry, co-ordinator of the New Mechanics' Institution Preservation Trust, is campaigning for the building to be restored as a public facility.
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She finds Mathew Singh's plans horrifying: "What he's proposing to do with this building is not just an insult to the building but it's an insult to the neighbours and people who would have to live with it."
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The preservation trust says the hotel plans jeopardise Swindon's chances of world heritage status as part of the Great Western Railway.
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The trust has drawn up an alternative vision for the building, which would rely on a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to make it available for community uses.
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Martha says: "We've done a business plan at our own expense. We've raised the funding. We have shown that this building could carry its own weight as a non-profit enterprise, not commercially, not for profit; a charity."
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But Martha's plans look unlikely to succeed. The preservation trust doesn't own the building and Mathew Singh insists it is not for sale.
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The only common ground shared between the opposing parties is that they both want to see the building saved.
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But until there is a resolution to the arguments over its future the Mechanics' Institution will continue to decay.
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You can see Inside Out West tonight, Wednesday 14 November, at 7.30pm on 91Èȱ¬ One West.
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The exclusive footage from inside the building is also being made available on bbc.co.uk/insideout.
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Inside Out, 91Èȱ¬ One West, Wednesday 14 November 2007, 7.30pm
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91Èȱ¬ Bristol Press Office
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