For the next week, we lay out each party's vision for certain key policy areas in Swindon. Today, in their own words, the parties outline their plans for regeneration

Conservatives

"The Conservative administration puts regeneration and heritage at the heart of the council’s vision.

Using The Platform for the school music service has preserved part of the Railway Village while the UTC has brought new life to other parts of Brunel’s complex. The old Sanford Street Boys’ School is now a thriving hub for voluntary groups.

We are refurbishing and opening up the Carriage Works, with University of Wales (Trinity St David) bringing higher education courses to the town centre.

Work will soon be completed on One and Three Faringdon Road, bringing new flats and shops as well as generating £300,000 for the WG Little Charitable Trust.

We are working with the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Trust to secure funding for an iconic new facility that will not only provide better access to Swindon’s treasures but also support our town centre.

While others wanted to go back to square one, the Conservatives pursued the North Star Village redevelopment, which will make Swindon a regional leisure destination.

We are working with the owners and stakeheloders to secure the sustainable future of the Corn Exchange and the Mechanics, which the council does not own.

Alongside this, we are working with GLL, sports groups and the heritage community to enhance the Milton Road Baths.

The town centre remains a challenge. We have completed the first new buildings with the health centre joining the car park and flats for the elderly.

We remain committed to securing the new homes, flats and offices that Swindon needs.

There are already firm plans to refurbish Falcon House (above Debenhams)."

Labour

Heritage and regeneration are key issues that Labour will address should we win in May. They are closely linked. We need to recover the town’s unique identity. Instead of neglecting heritage buildings like the Mechanics’ Institute and the Milton Road Baths, we should be restoring them and their surroundings, and bringing them back into use as vital parts of the regeneration project.

Labour believes town centres will have to change if they are to thrive. The Conservatives tried to pass regeneration to the private sector. The result was that nothing happened for a decade.

It is time the council took a more active role. We will build more office space and more homes in the town centre, to make it a livelier place. In the short term, we will encourage attractive ‘meanwhile’ uses for empty retail units.

We fully support the bid for a new museum and art gallery, both because people should be able to see our amazing collections and because it will drive regeneration in the wider area.

Labour is committed to restoring Lydiard House and Park and managing them efficiently within the public sector. The Conservatives now claim this is their plan too.

Yet they allowed backlog maintenance to build up and only two years ago were considering the option of transferring Lydiard to a private company on a long-term lease – because, they claimed, the council lacked the finance and expertise to run it.

Who knows what their position will be next year?

Liberal Democrats

A sense of place is essential to give a community an identity of which it can be proud.

The Liberal Democrats seek to enhance the appreciation of Swindon’s industrial heritage. We have seen failed attempts to privatise buildings and assets which are the birthright of our children. When these commercial propositions fail, the community loses its assets. When they succeed, profits return to shareholders.

The Liberal Democrats take a longer term view such that investment today in preservation and regeneration will return profits to the local economy for re-investment.

The Liberal Democrats support engagement with local people in their communities to decide what they would prefer to happen to their heritage and important buildings. Lydiard Park is a green and heritage treasure and its future must be guaranteed and not put at risk and this means remaining in council control.

The private control of Milton Road Baths has proved a disaster with the closure of the small pool and a major part of this heritage building hidden and out of use. It should be returned to council control.

The Mechanics Institute’s future has reached a decision time – is it a heritage building worth preserving or a decaying costly eyesore? This would be a clear case for a decision by the Swindon community.

The town’s green spaces are important for health and well-being, particularly for our young people. We need to support innovative ways of maintaining access to well-cared for facilities for all our citizens.

An attractive town with well-maintained and well-used historic buildings plus a new museum and art gallery and green spaces will lead to more companies wanting to be based here, increasing employment and stimulating the local economy for the benefit of all our citizens.

Green Party

As the fifth fastest-growing local authority in England, we recognise the need to regenerate the town to provide excellent facilities for residents and to encourage investment for further improvements.

We want to help form a council that develops an exciting and inspiring vision of Swindon, that celebrates and looks after the heritage that goes back to our very roots, while forging ahead into the future with buildings and plans that allow residents to thrive and enjoy the best that Swindon has to offer

We welcome the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery (SMAG) proposals and see it as a flagship project in the town centre that will set a high standard and draw in additional investment in the immediate area.

We want to help generate the same level of enthusiasm that has driven the bid to build SMAG to restore and look after the wonderful heritage which we have inherited. We will work with the Mechanics Institution Trust to make the Mechanics Institute a national beacon for regeneration.

We believe that all regeneration should be done with an eye to the future, buildings that are well-designed and built to need as little energy input as possible both during construction and in long-term operation. All residential regeneration should be done to the highest standards so that homes are warm and comfortable for residents.

UKIP

The Mechanics’ Institute, along with the Carriage Works, is a key part of Swindon’s heritage and culture but both have been left rotting for decades.

We shall scrap plans to spend over £5m of taxpayers’ money on a new build art gallery that all other parties appear to support. Instead, we want to see private investment and lottery funding to convert the Carriage Works into an art gallery with the additional benefit of preserving our glorious heritage.

Our young people have been utterly betrayed by the housing crisis.

No council houses were built under the last Labour government and the Tories are totally out of touch regarding the number of houses needed.

We want brownfield sites used for development, instead of ripping up our glorious countryside, which is so much under threat.

We would like quality prefab homes built that will provide affordable homes for families, making use of renewable resources using modern techniques.

These quickly erected homes will also save on energy bills and help address the crisis that has been elaborated by mass immigration.