Plans for an Aldi supermarket on the site of a disused Swindon office campus have been given the go-ahead.
London-based Picton Capital won approval for the scheme at Westlea Campus from Swindon Borough Council’s planning committee. It is the latest in a string of redevelopment projects of outdated offices and factories around the town. 
But plans to build 70 homes on the site next to the new supermarket were put on hold after comments from committee members.
Picton said the site had become obsolete and there was insufficient demand from office-based companies to justify the costs of refurbishing it to modern standards.
Westlea Campus, which includes three office buildings and a car park in landscaped grounds, was one of Swindon’s showpiece schemes built during the western expansion of the town in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Its prominent position close to the iconic Spectrum (formerly Renault) building meant it became a magnet for blue-chip organisations and one time it was occupied by the Training and Enterprise Council as well as hi-tech companies and service firms.
The Aldi outlet will be the German group’s fourth in Swindon and would take it closer to its target of seven branches in the town. Aldi has its regional distribution centre and head office at South Marston Park, employing around 500 people.
