Following the closure of the Homebase store at the Orbital shopping centre, British land, the owners of the shopping park have applied to make changes to the unit it occupied.

The size of the unit used by Homebase was for "retail warehousing" only and there are planning restrictions on using such a large building - 3,807square metres with a mezzanine floor of 284 square metres- for other retail uses such as food.

The application lodged with Swindon Borough Council is to separate the entire unit into three self-contained units.

Discount supermarket chain Lidl is expected to take possession of the largest of the sub-divided units, according to the application papers.

The mezzanine floor of the unit will also have to be divided into three after discussions between British land and planning officers.