A MEETING later this month will decide the short-term future of the Mechanics' Institute.

A Swindon Council-convened task force is set to meet members of the New Mechanics' Institute Preservation Trust, the Government, the National Trust and Bath University at a meeting chaired by English Heritage chairman Sir Neil Cossons.

It is hoped that the meeting, on October 24, will set in motion the first steps towards securing £300,000 of urgent works for the 133-year-old Grade II listed building in Emlyn Square in a bid to secure it against intruders and the elements.

The privately owned former Great Western Railway workers' welfare building has steadily slid into dereliction since the library closed in 1960 and needs around £2 million in repairs.

Preservation Trust chairman Martha Parry said: "This meeting is a landmark and we are hoping that from it we can secure a way forward for these urgent works.

"We need to undertake the urgent works before the worst of the winter comes."

Last September Swindon council commissioned architect Fielden Clegg Bradley to undertake a £25,000 study of the building. He concluded that £150,000 needed to be spent just to maintain it in its current condition.

The study also recommended that the council tell the owner of the Mechanics, Mountmead Ltd, to carry out the work immediately otherwise it should do the work itself and charge the company.

Mountmead Ltd has submitted a planning application to turn the Mechanics into a hotel.

Peter Barefoot of property consultants Alder King, the company representing Mountmead Ltd, said a considerable amount of money had been spent over the past 10 years on securing the building and repairing its roof.

He said: "We are not yet satisfied there is a chance of saving the building in its current form. It is that issue and planning consent for whatever use it is to be put to that lies at the crux of nothing happening at the moment.

"The building can only be secured if there is a beneficial use to provide for the future."

At the meeting English Heritage is expected to announce that it will underwrite 80 per cent of the cost of urgent works with the council footing the rest.

"Urgent work would protect the building from intrusion by people, animals and the elements," added Ms Parry.

"I don't want anyone to think that the building is falling down, because it's structurally sound. It's just that this situation has been rumbling on now for 16 winters and something must be done to preserve it. The longer this goes on the greater the cost ultimately.

"The Mechanics is more than just a building it is a place where Swindon people could come together like they used to."

The Preservation Trust is hoping to apply for a heritage lottery grant to turn the Mechanics into a "crossroads for the community" with the building being used as a community cinema, theatre, conference centre and meeting point.