Tag: squeeze

The latest document for consultation from Swindon Borough Council is their Swindon Houses in Multiple Occupancy Strategy — bedsits in common parlance. (In passing, I find it strange how selective the council is about which consultations actually get listed on their Have Your Say page.) The document is a masterpiece of padding. It runs to thirty five pages but the strategy itself appears in a table that is contained within a table that occupies just a little over two pages. It’s very informative about what the council does to try and regulate houses in multiple occupation but, except for those two pages, ’tis not a strategy. The most interesting parts are the maps showing the concentration of these properties in the Radnor Street, Tennyson Street and Broadgreen areas. Given how weak the council’s powers are (licensing only becomes necessary for houses with more than five unrelated occupants and of three or more storeys; planning controls only apply for houses with more than six unrelated occupants) and the brevity of the actual strategy and the verbosity of the document, it’s not worth the read for much else.

I’m not sure which I find more ridiculous: the leader of the New Mechanics Preservation Trust, bewailing the loss of some sarsen stones at Wharf Green, that were barely noticeable to most shoppers. (She does seem to have a fixation with large stones in parks.)

In trying to create new Swindon they are trashing old Swindon. I feel quite sad and disappointed this has happened. Apparently they were too heavy to move. They are a local material and they had tremendous presence. They could have been used in a car park or put in a park.

Or our council leader, eulogising on the return of the facade of the Baptist Tabernacle that will be nothing more than an out-of-place token gesture to the past in a modern development.

It is nice to see the stone back. I did see the stones all jumbled up in Northampton. But to see them here, sorted, in boxes, and being put into slots, has been quite a moment for me. Of course now it’s just a gigantic jigsaw puzzle for someone to start putting back together. I wanted to get the stone back because I thought it could be an important symbol in the regeneration of Swindon, but all along I have thought that to bring this off would be nothing short of a miracle.

Between them, they illustrate why the preservation of Swindon’s industrial past has fared so badly.

I’ve been testing my powers of endurance by reading Swindon Borough Council’s new draft Revised Residential Parking Standards. Amongst all the rather dull staff, such as specifications for how big a parking space should be at angles of 90°, 60° and 45°, there are some rather more important things. In particular, the central areas of Swindon (Sector 1 in the highly imaginative terminology of the document) will have different standards from the rest of the borough. The main difference is that parking spaces will neither be required not permitted for new flats in the central area, whereas at least one or two parking spaces will have to be provided in the rest of Swindon. That’ll put a lot of pressure on the already limited on-street parking spaces amongst the terraced houses, you might think. You’d be wrong. To quote paragraph 8.1.

In order to keep the ratio of spaces and permits to its current level the council will expect new developments to become permit-free. This will mean that developments within Residential Parking Zones will be expected to enter into a legal agreement denying future residents access to parking permits, therefore ensuring a “Permit Free Development”.

Hmm… any predictions as to how long that one will last before being challenged by a developer? The draft is open for consultation until 17^th October.

With a big fanfare (okay, just a press release — ‘Plans for a major university in Swindon have moved a step closer’ — a news article and a short leader article), Swindon Borough Council has announced that The University of the West of England has firmed up its interest in opening a branch in Swindon. We are told that it will be ‘a unique learning institution in the town centre.’ We are also told that it will offer about 3000 places, probably in North Star, primarily for vocational training.

It is intended that the new university will focus on the strengths of the Swindon economy, such as advanced engineering, financial services, ICT, health and social care and the heritage industry.

We will deliver teaching to employees while they work. The courses will be bespoke to the individual needs of employers like Honda and Intel. We are also looking at delivering heritage courses, which aren’t available elsewhere.

That’s about a third of the size of the existing University of Bath in Swindon and covering a very similar range of subjects. It is difficult to see what will be unique about the new campus apart from its minute size. It is quite a feat of exaggeration to describe it as ‘a major university in Swindon’.
Presumably this should mean that the Gateway plans are now dead… unless someone can be persuaded to provide a proper university for Swindon.

So much for the proposed green spine of the Central Area Action Plan. Walking through Wharf Green today I see that the first action of the regeneration there is to cut down most of the trees.

Another grand plan and yet another fantastic artist’s impression to go with it. This time for the Dyson Foundation’s School Of Design Innovation, which the council are trying to attract to a mystery location in Swindon with ‘good transport links.’ It sounds like a good idea, but will it really be occupied by ghostly grey people and have assorted aircraft parts levitating in the centre of the building? Take away the overly optimistic gleam and what it will really be is just another concrete and glass block.

It’s so comforting to read of the reasons that a group of campaigners from Wootton Bassett are opposing the plan for the western end of the southern relief road around the developments on the Swindon front garden to be near Wootton Bassett and their homes.

Lady Inchcape and campaigners against the junction fear the changes would create more traffic on local routes and congest Old Town.

So magnanimous. Concerned for the people of Swindon rather than themselves…. Except that it is a bit like suggesting that moving the western end of the M4 from Pont Abraham to Aust would lead to greater congestion in central London. It just wouldn’t be right to allow some logic to get in the way of an old fashioned nimby campaign.

No, a Gateway that is full of only houses. It seems that now, not only is there no university interested in the plans to concrete over the area around Coate Water, but the GW Hospital is not interested either. Apparently the developers’ plans have not allocated enough space for the hospital, proposing instead that an area reserved for an expanded park-and-ride car park be used for hospital development. Guess that means there’ll be no alternative but to build houses over the entire Gateway site. I’m sure the developers will be distraught at the thought.

The outline plans for concreting over the area around Coate Water have now been formally submitted to Swindon Borough Council. Anyone wishing to look at and comment on the plans can do so here and here.

Seventy nine days after I sent them my comments, thirty five days after the closing date for the consultation, the Forward Planning Group at Swindon Borough Council have sent me an acknowledgement slip.

Consultation on the Swindon Central Area Action Plan

Thank you for your representation on the Swindon Central Area Action Plan ‘Preferred Options’ Paper.

We will write to you in due course to advise you on how your representation is being considered.

Why would I want to know how my comments are being considered? Presumably various people will read the comments submitted, possibly summarise the comments of many for wider consideration, others will think about what has been written then draw some conclusions and make a decision or two. I know what the overall process is because it was described in the consultation documents. What I would like to know is what the outcome of the consultation is. How they get there, provided it is consistent with the process the council has already described, is very much of secondary importance.

I’d also be interested to know why, when I submitted my comments by email, the Forward Planning Group insist on responding by snail mail.