Company collapse means £30m Swindon road cannot be used

Swindon Borough Council hopes the road will be ready for use in spring 2024

Drivers are unable to use a new £30m road after the company which built it went into administration before safety checks could be carried out.

The Southern Connector road in Swindon links the Commonhead Roundabout and South Marston, where 8,000 houses are due to be built.

But the route remains closed to traffic with technical checks not yet made due to the collapse of Buckingham Group.

Swindon Borough Council said it hoped the road would open in spring 2024.

Councillor Chris Watts, cabinet member for the environment and transport, said with no contractor in place they needed to "complete a lot of quality assurance to make sure the road is fit for purpose".

He added: "The collapse of Buckingham came completely out of the blue and meant we were not able to open the road as quickly as we would have liked.

"Fortunately for the council, and local taxpayers, the new road had been built so we were not left with an unfinished road and many of the issues that would have come with it."

"We will be working as hard as we can to get the new road open as soon as we can."

Buckingham Group's administrator, Grant Thornton, declined to comment when contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]