Housing plan for former Motorola site withdrawn

The site on the outskirts of Swindon is allocated for housing under the local plan

A plan for more than 150 houses on part of the former Motorola factory site and car park in Swindon has been shelved.

In early 2022, developer BoKlok, a joint venture between Ikea and building firm Skanksa, submitted proposals for the site next to the A419.

However, the application has now been listed as withdrawn on Swindon Borough Council’s website.

The site has been allocated for housing in the local plan drawn up by the council.

Plans for 159 houses on the former Motorola site were submitted in 2022

BoKlok had submitted plans for 159 modular homes which would have been built off-site and transported to the site.

The application said: “The homes are built in factory conditions and constructed off-site for a fast building programme that accelerates the delivery of homes.”

Permission Homes, which hopes to build 1,500 houses in Kingsdown and a bridge across the A419 to the former Motorola site, had objected to the plan, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Motorola building in Swindon was opened by Elizabeth II in 1998.

Medical supplies manufacturer Vygon moved into the building in 2011.

The building made a brief appearance in the 1999 James Bond film The World is Not Enough, when it was used to portray a Turkish oil platform.