A MAN who played a crucial role in the development of modern Swindon has died.

Property auctioneer Harold Loveday, former senior partner with Loveday and Loveday, was 82 and had suffered a short illness.

He had retired only in 1998, having spent 54 years attending to property transactions across the town.

During that period, he had seen Swindon expand from being a railway town to embrace high-technology industries and become one of the most prosperous communities in Europe.

His commissions included compulsory land acquisition in the years immediately following the Second World War, when Swindon grew a great deal, largely due to an influx of people decanted from overcrowded areas of London.

He also oversaw the acquisition of the Goddard estate for the town by the local authority.

In addition, he helped to arrange the availability of the site which became The Parade, prior to its becoming part of the town centre's shopping area.

Another of his tasks was to handle the sale of the old Empire Theatre on the corner of Groundwell Road and Victoria Road for office and shops use in 1956.

The theatre was sold for £7,000.

He retired to Marlborough, and is survived by his wife, Mary, sons Christopher and Philip, and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at St Mary's Church in Marlborough on Friday, January 30, beginning at noon.