Winners send town's landmarks tumbling (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Winners send town's landmarks tumbling

WITH two loud thuds, a pair of landmarks tumbled down at Wootton Bassett's St Ivel factory with the help of two Gazette competition winners.

The two skyline-dominating chimneys at the former dairy were demolished on Thursday as part of an initial stage of a new KingsOak Homes development.

The Mayor of Wootton Bassett and former employee at the factory, Councillor Chris Wannell, was present for the demolition.

He was joined by winners of the KingsOak and Gazette and Herald competition to name the new development, Joshua Corscadden, six, and Molly Reeves, seven.

They won the right to commence the demolition after choosing to name the new site Beaufort Park, commemorating the former Beaufort Brewery, which, as a listed building, will remain on the site.

Joshua, from Wootton Bassett Infant School, and Molly, from Noremarsh Junior school, started the demolition by sounding an air horn.

Joshua could not hide his delight after finding out he would be signalling the beginning of the destruction.

"I was really, really excited when I found out that I had won," he said.

His mum, Deborah, of Lyneham Banks, added: "He's so happy. It's every boy's dream I think to be able to do something like this."

Coun Wannell was sad to see the chimneys destroyed, but said the town has to move on.

"It's sad, but I knew that once the dairy plant finished here, the site couldn't be used for anything else, so we've had to move forward and look to the future.

"I came here as a bottling plant employee in 1978 and I ended up as environmental manager for the site, which meant looking after anything to do with environmental issues on the whole site."

Managing director for KingsOak South West, Simon Mantell, said he was delighted with the name chosen for the development.

"When deciding on a new name for a scheme we often take a look into the history books or do some research into the local area. With this development, however, we wanted to give it a name that was extra special.

"The former Beaufort Brewery is a historic landmark on the site and this new development will commemorate its rich heritage."

The factory originally opened in 1908 and was once the biggest employer in town. But it closed 95 years later after parent company Uniq sold the Shape yoghurt brand to Danone for £32m, which moved production from the site.

KingsOak Homes bought the 27-acre site for £19m in August last year and plans to build 340 new homes on the site.

It intends to submit an outline planning application this summer and hopes to commence work in a year's time.