That’s the opinion of the council officer commenting on the New Mechanics’ Institution Preservation Trust’s submission on a licensing application from Forefront Properties. It is the latest bout in the saga of the GWR Mechanics’ Institution building. As reported in the Adver, the council officer’s view is that
The overall sentiment of the letter from the Trust appears to be that no-one other than the Trust should be permitted to bring the Mechanics’ Institute into use.
However, we only have the council officer’s opinion of that as, in the papers for the licensing panel meeting, they have edited out everything they view as inadmissible. The sentiment expressed in what little is left, seems significantly more restrained than that described by the council officer. It seems a bit odd that the panel are being asked to make a judgement on whether the submission was vexatious, without being given the evidence.
Now, I’m sure some of these do worthwhile work but, looking at that list, it does seem rather incestuous, with partnerships forming further partnerships, all with the added cost of yet another bureaucracy. A bit of digging on these organisations’ websites reveals that they are all a consequence of one or other central government ‘initiative’, wherein getting hold of some extra money for Swindon from central government (or stopping central government taking money away) is dependent on setting up a new quango.
If national government thinks that a way to improve local participation in democracy is to add multiple layers of bureaucracy, then its understanding of democracy is clearly very wrong indeed.
With rubbish collections due tomorrow in this area, I see that, quite apart from the ‘no more black bags’ message having not got through, the ‘only two blue bags per week’ message still hasn’t got through to many households either: there are some with over twice that number put out for collection… regularly. And as the dustmen, whilst refusing to collect black bags, seem to quite contentedly collect any number of blue bags, I reckon that some people will soon be running out. At which point, they’ll revert to using black bags… which won’t be collected. Swindon in the spring is going to look so pretty….
The plans to replace the former tented market with a ‘pavilion’ of cafes is to be discussed by Swindon Borough CouncilPlanning Committee on Tuesday. I’m not sure what the planning officer was looking at when she was considering the plan, but her report seems to be talking about something significantly more impressive than the artist’s impression — never known for showing developments in a poor light — of the new development.
The ‘pavilion’ offers a light and contemporary design solution to this tired part of the town centre and it will hopefully act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the surrounding streets and premises….
The full height glazing to the units is welcome and the brise soleil provides a contemporary architectural detail. The curved glazed facing Commercial Road provides an interesting gateway to Wharf Green both during the day and the evening….
The ‘pavilion’ has been designed using contemporary architecture which is light and simple. It is a building that can be viewed in the round as a centre point from a variety of vista’s. It responds well to the area and will be a positive catalyst to the future of the town centre regeneration.
I’d thought it was the role of planning officers to provide the committee with objective advice, not subjective opinions. Well, in my opinion, the proposed structure is no more ‘contemporary’ than the existing one. The existing building is a landmark. The proposed building is just another retail block no different from many to be found elsewhere.
I went along to the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust’s new information centre in Regent Circus today, where, amongst other things, they are promoting their hopes and the council’s plans for a canal through Swindon town centre. Whilst, not surprisingly, some of the volunteers there were very knowledgeable about the canal proposals, what was rather alarming was how poorly informed they were about the Council’s plans that would support their aspirations — the Central Area Action Plan. Alarming, because it is the developer contributions from the central area development which Swindon Borough Council says will pay for the canal, and because the plan says quite a lot about the canal and some of it contradicts what those from the Canal Trust are saying. But then, some of what they were saying is well into the realms of fantastic optimism over realism — trams and mass pedestrianisation in Swindon? I don’t think so! (Further pedestrianisation has already discounted in an earlier draft of the plan).
The Gateway at Kingshill The buildings in the Shire and Erin Court area are visually poor. This area is, however, effectively a gateway into Central Swindon and as such is identified as redevelopment opportunity area on the Proposals Map. The redevelopment of this area would remove the potential need for an awkward ‘S bend’ and would allow for the canal to be designed along a straighter alignment. The final alignment of the canal route through this area would be detailed at the design stage of the Shire and Erin Court redevelopment.
That sounds to me like compulsory purchase and demolition on its way. No other properties seem to be so clearly identified in the plan for long-term planning blight as these are.
I also see that the ghosts last sighted outside the Falcon pub have now appeared in the action plan outside the old GWR hospital, with one of them wearing a Brunelesque top hat. So much for this being ‘forward planning’….
I doubt that the streets of Swindon will be getting off to a clean, fresh start in the New Year. The pile of rubbish outside 41 Westcott Place continues to grow. It has now been there for almost two months. As alreadyfoundinBroadgreen, there’s not much evidence of the instant action promised by Ms Darker against ‘fly-tipping’.
I see from the December edition of Central Outlook that Ms Darker is having a few problems with the English language.
Fly-tipping In Central Residents have complained to me that some irresponsible people are dumping their black bags. Our officers have been through the black bags and have ascertained names and addresses of those guilty of dumping and they will be prosecuted. The wheelie bin rollout has been hugely successful and I hope residents will contact me with details of any dumping so that we can tackle this immediately. I fully support the Council policy to introduce wheelie bins. We face the threat of a fine from Government if we don’t meet our target to recycle and and reduce landfill. This fine could be as much as 6 – 7% on Council Tax so we are determined to reach our target.
If the press are to bebelieved, there’s no such thing as business travel. The 12% increase in bookings reported by Holiday Inn is just from holiday makers and not business travellers…. Hmm… I guess that explains why, even for a summer booking, they charge less for a weekend booking than for a mid-week one at either of their Swindon hotels.
Just a day after I received a letter from Ms Snelgrove, I am now in receipt of a letter from Mr Buckland. Today’s letter from is slightly longer that yesterday’s letter from Ms Snelgrove. It naturally goes into more detail about the ‘cause’ of the proposed closure: a government initiated review. Rather unnaturally, it says rather little about what one might think of as a good conservative principle of running services profitably where possible. The local post office in Westcott Place only last year received a significant facelift and the branch would not, presumably, be a candidate for closure if that had been a success in bringing in greater custom. Not that this is a case for closure of itself: the Post Office are quite inflexible in their business model and the thought of paying sub-postmasters entirely on commission rather than having them salaried seems to be something they reserve for the likes of WH Smith.
In a rare burst of like-minded thinking, both Mr Buckland and Ms Snelgrove say they are campaigning to save the local post offices that are threatened with closure. I’ve even had a letter from Ms Snelgrove. The difference between the two at the moment seems to be that Mr Bucklandoffers some reasons why the offices should not close on his website, whereas Ms Snelgroveoffers ‘solid arguments’ against the closures only if you’re willing to give her your contact details first, thereby giving her the right to contact you for political purposes rather than ‘non-political’ constituency purposes. Nice.
