A £25M plan to house a collection of Bodleian Library books at a Swindon industrial estate has been approved.

The proposals to build a storage facility for more than four million books from Oxford University’s world-famous Bodleian Library was welcomed by councillors at a Swindon Borough Council planning meeting last night.

Work on the facility, which will be at Keypoint Industrial Development, in South Marston, near Swindon, is expected to begin in the autumn. The development is due to finish next year.

The proposals to build the facility, complete with access road, car parking, landscaping and a generator sub-station, were praised by councillors and voted through unanimously.

Councillor Doreen Dart said: “This is one of the best applications I have ever seen on this committee.

“It is absolutely wonderful that we are able to have this type of building in one of our wards.”

Mrs Dart said previous applications for the site had all been deemed unsatisfactory, mainly because of concerns over noise and landscape issues.

She said: “I really approve of this application. This site has had a number of applications where the noise levels have been a problem.

“For this application that certainly won’t be the case. We have had meetings with the Bodleian Library and they have assured us that everything they have promised us will be delivered.”

The move comes after a previous plan to store the books on floodplains surrounding Oxford came under fire for endangering the books and ruining the views of the city.

Committee chairman Dale Heenan also welcomed the application. He said: “I hope this is the start of a collaboration between Swindon Council and Oxford University. I hope they can see that we are more helpful than some other councils.”

Mr Heenan went on to suggest that he would ideally like to see links developed between the Bodleian’s book storage and Swindon’s new central library.

Terry Gashe, speaking on behalf of the developers, said the university took the plans seriously and was impressed with the level of co-operation shown in Swindon.

He also confirmed that the developers would pay a £20,000 contribution towards the Community Forest as part of the deal.

The Bodleian Library, which opened in 1602, has seen its book collection expand at a rate of 5,000 a week.