Tag: squeeze

The Smith’s Quarter development rises by the traverser in the former GWR Swindon Works, with the David Murray John Tower in the background.

I’ve been looking at the latest planning application for a Jurys Inn in Swindon. You’d have thought that, having revised their original planning application a couple of times, they would have tired of the habit, but no. So now they are back with a new application, very similar to the first, but with 20% less restaurant space and five fewer flats apartments.

Externally, there seems to be little difference between the two applications: it remains a ten storey slab of bricks and painted concrete. However, reading through the garbage that accompanies the application (and no, I’m not just talking about the refuse disposal strategy) I did notice that whoever drew some of the illustrations in the design statement has some problems with their balance. If this bit of developer-puffery is to be believed,

The scale of buildings rises towards the town centre

and they’ve drawn a pretty picture to show how their slab will fit in at the shorter end of this rising line…. It’s a tad unfortunate that they’ve only managed to produce this rising line by having it cut through the top storeys of the proposed hotel whilst passing several floors above the buildings closer to the centre. Anyone sober with a steady hand would have drawn a line that was level.

As an aside, I’m not quite sure what a ‘superior budget hotel’ is, nor what is ‘budget’ about paying £70 for a room, but that is what Jurys Inns claim to be. Just trying to bump up their search engine ratings in these economically troubled times, methinks.

It’s four months since I last posted any photographs of Swindon’s Front Garden slowly disappearing under the bricks and concrete of Wichelstowe, though I have made an extensive photographic trip around South Leaze for future reference. This weekend, whilst on my way to make some purchases from those helpful people at Old Town Hardware, I took a photograph of the low-cost housing blocks of East Wichel being built where Westlecott Farm once was. The style and housing density remind me of the dense Victorian terraces that once made up the St Ann’s area of Nottingham… which were demolished over thirty years ago as slums.

I’m not sure whether what has been reported is exaggeration on the part of Mr McCloud of Hab Housing or poor reporting on the part of the Adver. Either way, it smacks of spin — a mix of the ordinary and the bizarre, whipped-up to look like a luxury concoction.

The TV presenter’s fresh ideas for the Pickard’s Small Field site off Pinehurst Road also include making drains transparent so residents can see the flow of water and increasing wildlife.

I presume those last two aren’t related. Perhaps ‘transparent drain’ is developer-speak for a ditch, in the same way that a car park made from moss and reeds sounds very much like a muddy field.

And one car per home was presented as being a possible house rule of living in his sustainable homes. “I am aware that Swindon is not a bike city but a car city so we face some challenges here,” he said. “I saw some sour faces around the room when I talked about reducing the number of cars per household.”

Before Mr McCloud polishes his environmental credentials to a blinding gleam, lets not forget Swindon Borough Council’s residential parking standards that restrict the number of parking spaces per house.

Thirty per cent of the homes have been designated social housing

That’s also a Swindon Borough standard.

“In the average street in Britain, a resident might only know six or so neighbours,” he said. He advocates sharing tools and cars, as a way of bringing people together. “Sharing objects and material goods is important so people also share experiences,” he said.

Is he planning to run tool inspections? Will anyone owning more than one drill and a saw be evicted for being a member of the DIY bourgeoisie?

His company – HABS – plans to put the homes on the market for competitive prices, but McCloud says all the extra perks will come for free. “Our challenge is delivering this for the price of a three-bedroom house,” he said.

Well, there’s a surprise. The prices will be ‘competitive’… he wouldn’t be in business very long if they weren’t. And as competitive pricing means charging what the market will bear, rather than what the product costs, those ‘extra perks’ are far from free.

Communal orchards or hedgerows with food and a communal hub were also presented as likely possibilities. “We think landscaping is an important part of what we do,” he said. “The opposite is a lawn that gets mowed once per week. Biodiversity is one of our biggest objectives.”

And just who is going to pick up the tab for maintaining these orchards? A little extra on your Council Tax to pay for Mr McCloud’s utopia perhaps?

There’s no doubting that the urban environment in which people live is matters, but there are limits to what landscape and architecture can do to affect the quality of those lives. When developers forget this and imbue their creations with tasks of social engineering that are beyond their powers, they don’t create the ideal homes of the future; they create the sink-estates for the next generation.

I’m not sure what the senior management of Bach Homes, the developers of the Locarno, are on, but it seems to be very strong stuff. The housing market has nose-dived, Bach Homes are in administration, yet, if their managing director is to be believed, it is business as usual for the Locarno development.

The proposed developments at Victoria Hospital, Wootton Bassett and the Locarno are not affected by this administration and finance is being raised to allow these developments to commence early next year.

Seems he hasn’t noticed that credit is a bit difficult to get at the moment, unless your creditworthiness is perfect. A company in administration hardly fits that description.

You’d think that, with the housing market in the doldrums, the likes of Persimmon Homes would have better things to do with their money than going lodging planning appeals at almost the first opportunity. If a council fails to make a decision within a set time (‘non-determination’ in planning jargon) the planning laws allow six months to appeal. Persimmon have waited just one month to lodge an appeal against Swindon Borough Council’s failure to make a decision on their plans to surround Coate Water with concrete.

Just how many developments in a single town does one developer need in a falling market?

The Adver has reported that plans for building on Swindon’s front garden have been ‘shelved’.

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build thousands of homes on Swindon’s Front Garden has been shelved due to the tough economic times. The announcement came after Swindon Council admitted its hopes to pick a developer to build 4,500 homes in Wichelstowe from a list of four companies, chosen earlier this year, will not go ahead this summer as they had hoped. However, plans to build some 200 low-cost homes on the 460-acre site will go ahead as planned.

But as the comments from councillors within the Adver’s own report indicate, that is overstating things: the plans have been delayed, not shelved, yet. There’s also something missing from the report: the selection of developers that the council has deferred is for the Middle Wichel and West Wichel developments only. Most of East Wichel is already owned by Taylor Wimpey. Development may have slowed, but with land already sold to a developer, it’s unlikely to stop for long.

Politicians have a poor reputation when it comes to being honest and truthful. So you’d think that any politician keen to improve their credibility would, when they have to go back on a commitment made earlier — to ‘secure’ playing fields for community enjoyment after a school closes, say — try to show some real regret and to explain carefully the reason for abandoning their earlier commitments. I guess Mr Sammels cares little for his credibility.

It was out of our control. The plans have changed, as since then there has been further consultation. I am glad we are keeping the leisure centre at the site but it is a shame they are building on that part of the land. But it is the only land they can use.

To say that ‘The plans have changed’ is stating the obvious and explains nothing. If by ‘our’ Mr Sammels is referring just to himself and his fellow St Philips ward councillors, then that is a rather narrow interpretation that few will accept. Mr Sammels is from the nest that controls Swindon Borough Council and this is land owned by the council being sold to fund school development for the council. The economics may have changed since last year; control of the council has not.

Behaviour like this deserves all the ridicule it has received.

It’s received plenty of press coverage, but there’s an ingredient missing from the Development Agreement announced on Wednesday amidst a flurry of press releases. Dates. Modus Properties may well have committed to spending £215M on the Regent Place development but, without an indication of when that might be — and Mr Bluh was at pains to say that it wouldn’t be soon — it all looks like a rather empty publicity stunt.

From the title alone, those with an interest in such things will realise that this is a post about re-desecration regeneration of Swindon. Yet another development has been described using the developers’ favourite term “vibrant”. This time it’s the few remaining open spaces within the former railway works that’s now, apparently, renamed “Churchward Village”. Thomas Homes are redeveloping the area occupied by the railway works traverser, which has been labelled “Smith’s Quarter”. In their own words,

Thomas Homes is bringing new life to the former locomotive works of the Great Western Railway as part of an extensive regeneration project to include an urban residential development of apartments and houses, leisure facilities, restaurants, hotel accommodation and office suites which will provide a vibrant community in the heart of Swindon.

I’m not sure what a “vibrant community” is. According to my dictionary, “vibrant” means “vibrating, thrilling with (action, etc.); resonant.” A vibrating community sounds to me like one in need of medical attention. Perhaps they’ll be shaking after a visit to the “vibrant” redeveloped town centre… though somehow I doubt it. A big television and a shopping centre with new canopies are hardly likely to have them overcome with emotion.

It’s also difficult to see just what in this new development is going to contribute to the vitality of the town. It’s just more flats, 245 of them. With flats leading the fall in property prices they’re unlikely to be “integral to the regeneration of Swindon” as the developer’s consultants claim. Mr Brotherton of Thomas Homes makes some equally unrealistic claims.

Churchward Village is a superb development in a great location surrounded by listed buildings. It is also something completely different for Swindon, bringing character close to the town centre… it’s bringing something new to Swindon.

Let’s hope Mr Bretherton has a better grasp of construction and economics than he does of design and novelty. Yet more flats, and fairly bland looking flats at that, will neither be something new nor bring character to Swindon.