Tag: Swindon

Having noted yesterday that the Post Office seem to have written their branch access reports from a stance of total ignorance, this morning I checked the bus service at the bus stop outside Westcott Place Post Office. There is the grand total of three buses per day each way on Thamesdown route 26, none of which pass by Rodbourne Road Post Office. The exceptions to this are Saturdays and Sundays… when there are no buses at all. There may well be ‘a bus stop located 220 yards away both sides’ of Rodbourne Road Post Office, but they are not ones that the No. 26 bus calls at.

The post office has announced which post offices it intends to close in the Wiltshire and West Berkshire. The list includes three within Swindon: Westcott Place (Central), Cheney Manor Road (Rodbourne) and Guildford Avenue (Lawn). Just beyond the borough boundary, the post office in Toomers Garden Centre on Stone Lane, Lydiard Millicent, is also scheduled for closure.

The nearest branches for those affected will now be those in Commercial Road, Rodbourne Road in Even Swindon (the suggested alternative for Cheney Manor Road and Westcott Place, although parcels that could be left for collection at Westcott Place always seen to be deposited at the Old Town branch), Cavendish Square (the suggested alternative for Guildford Avenue … I can’t see that going down well with the residents of Lawn), Queens Drive and the main town centre branch in Sanford Street. Those displaced from Lydiard Millicent are recommended to use the Shaw Village Centre branch.

The main interest of the branch access reports for the urban offices seems to be whether their is a bus service between the closed and replacement offices… which is fine for those that live right by the soon-to-be-closed branches, and a fairly pointless observation for all others. For Westcott Place, the report states that ‘There is a bus stop located outside the branch.’ That’s true. What is not true is the statement ‘There is a frequent bus service between the two branches.’ There is no such thing: the bus stop outside Westcott Place Post Office is virtually disused. The reports were clearly written with zero local knowledge.

It is nice to see that Mrs Snelgrove has already stated her opposition to the closures, but given that is a result of a policy of her own party in government, which she always backs, regardless of local consequences it is difficult to believe this is more than empty rhetoric from her.

The consultation on the closure plans is open until 31 January 2008, though it appears to be of the We’re consulting because we have to but won’t take any notice of the comments type. Comments should be sent to:

Tim Nickolls
Network Development Manager
C/o National Consultation Team
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM
Email: consultation@postoffice.co.uk.

I’m in favour of houses being designed to be as energy efficient as possible, but I do have some concerns about the designs that feature in Kevin McCloud’s initial thoughts for his Hab Housing company’s front garden development. Both in the gallery on his company’s website and in the photographs shown at his recent event in Swindon, wood-clad buildings feature heavily.

Mr McCloud has made a comparison between Swindon and Harlow. As I’ve noted before, I have lived in a couple places where architects have experimented, of which Harlow was one. Both those places featured many, many wood-clad buildings. Those in the St Ann’s area of Nottingham were built in the early 1970s… and demolished at the turn of the millennium. The many wood-clad buildings in Harlow have lasted somewhat longer, having been build in the 1950s and 1960s, but the majority have had the wood replaced with uPVC. The few that remain in wood look decidedly tatty.

Wood may look nice when newly painted or varnished, as in the photographs that Mr McCloud uses, but it’s a high maintenance building material and that look doesn’t last. Swindon has enough problems with flawed housing designs, such as the sytem-built pre-cast reinforced concrete houses of Parks, Pinehurst and Penhill. Lets hope that an obsession with making things ‘natural’ doesn’t add to that.

(And just in case anyone is tempted to get overly sentimental about a TV personality leading a housing development, McCloud’s Hab Housing is partnered by Footstep Homes, a joint venture company backed by some fairly unabashed capitalists.)

The Adver has reported the outcome of the council’s Pride of Place poll, launched in October. The attraction of which people are most proud is Coate Water. What is perhaps more revealing is just how few votes some of the other ‘attractions’ got. The results in full:

• 31% Coate Water
• 25% Lydiard Park
• 13% Town Gardens
• 10% Barbury Castle
•  6% Magic Roundabout
•  5% STEAM
•  4% Swindon Designer Outlet
•  3% Link Centre
•  2% Oasis Centre
•  1% Wyvern Theatre

Given the question (Which attraction are you most proud of? ‘If you had just one day… where you’d take a visitor’ rather than ‘Which attraction is your favourite?’) it’s probably not surprising that the two leisure centres didn’t do too well: whatever their merits, the two centres are definitely showing their age and have been surpassed by similar facilities in other towns. Similarly for the Wyvern, which was still shut when voting started. However for STEAM museum to come below a roundabout, a hilltop and what is, though an attractive park, nevertheless just an urban park, says little for the museum.

Did the poll succeed in the objective of making me feel connected with my council? Not really, especially as the most popular attraction was one that the council was intent on surrounding with concrete.

With it being less than a month since Swindon Borough Council introduced weekly kerbside recycling, it’s far too early to draw conclusions as to its impact… unless you’re Ms Snelgrove that is. We can, as always, rely on Ms Snelgrove to jump in with a bit of cheap political point scoring.

Figures I have seen have Swindon Council’s recycling and composting rate at 32 per cent, and it is excellent that they are doing what they are doing. But when you look at Wiltshire County Council it is recycling 38 per cent of the waste it collects. So although it looks like we’re doing okay what we need to be doing is exceeding our targets. MPs need to keep the pressure on our councils so that they beat their targets quickly and we can all reduce our carbon footprints.

Recycling is about re-use of materials; reducing carbon footprint is about reducing energy consumption. Ms Snelgrove isn’t the first to assume the two are inextricably linked, but for her to restate it does highlight her ignorance of the issues.

Mr Bluh, leading the defence for the council, has, presumably, seen some more up-to-date figures than Ms Snelgrove has.

We’ve already achieved 38 per cent currently, and that will climb once the new service has settled down.

You may also recall Ms Snelgrove’s previous statement that she always puts the concerns of her electorate first. Compare and contrast.

Ms Snelgrove:

One of the big problems we have in this town is that the main recycling point we have is in the northern part of the borough. I think we need a new facility in the south of the borough. It could be a one-off capital project. Once up and running it would not cost too much to maintain and it would make a huge difference to the amount we recycle. We all know the council is receiving a fair amount of cash from building works – I cannot think of a better issue to put money into.

Mr Bluh:

All the changes we’ve made this year have cost the council an extra £2m to introduce, yet we’ve had no financial assistance from the Government to do it…. When we consulted residents about what they thought our priorities for waste should be, they placed a comprehensive kerbside recycling service for the whole borough, including plastic bottles, above a second waste site. We’ve now delivered that.

I suppose it should come as no surprise really that Ms Snelgrove is trying to spend more of our money and would no doubt be the first to complain if council tax had to rise to deliver her plans. That said, there couldn’t be a more apt monument to Ms Snelgrove than a centre for collecting and recycling rubbish. I trust she’ll be at the front of the queue when it opens, with copies of most of her press statements and parliamentary speaches.

The introduction of the new recycling service may have been incompetent, but in picking her latest target for petty political point scoring, Ms Snelgrove has totally missed the main concerns of her electorate.

It should come as no surprise that, having abandoned plans to open a campus at Coate Water, the University of Bath has now decided to abandon its loss-leading Oakfield site. It does somewhat contrast, though, with statements that the university made at the time the Coate plans were dropped.

Professor Breakwell added: “We will continue to work closely with a wide range of external partners to explore how best to expand the higher education provision in Swindon and Wiltshire.”

As noted by all political sides, regardless of what the university might say about continuing provision in Swindon without a site here, that is very unlikely now.

I tried out the new branch of Rendezvous this lunchtime, on the corner of Haydon Street and Corporation Street. The smell of fresh paint was still detectable at the entrance, though fortunately not beyond. The meal, at £7 for three courses plus china tea, was sufficient, though not generous… which is how I like it at lunchtime — an afternoon’s work on a bloated stomach is never the most efficient. The decor also is sufficient, functional and tidy without being overly elaborate. I found all three courses a little sweet for my liking, but still very good for the price. The crispy pancake roll starter was quite mild, to my liking. The main course of beef with green peppers and black bean sauce was good, with tasty thin slices of beef. I would have preferred to have had a choice of fried or boiled rice, rather than it being prescribed on the menu, but that is a minor quibble, and the fried rice was very finely done and not greasy as is often the case, even in much more expensive restaurants. The desert was fine, though slightly crisper batter for the apple fritter would have been nice. Finally, the pot of china tea was very generously sized, though a little weak. Service was a little confused — to many waiters with not enough customers to serve — but I am sure that will improve as trade picks up. In all, the meal was good for the price and the establishment is a welcome addition to this corner of Swindon.

I’ve been reading through the comments and council responses on the preferred options draft of the Swindon Central Area Action Plan, which was considered at at last Thursday’s council meeting. The same document also contains the submission draft of the Action Plan, which is open for consultation until 4.30 pm on 11th February 2008 — so much for the promised communication on how my comments would be considered… I’m still waiting for the council’s forward planning group to write.

The last objection from the New Swindon Company (on page 42) shows how much they care about the local communities just beyond the ‘core of the central area’.

The key players should include The New Swindon Company. The proposal to invite tenders for the improvement of public realm beyond the core of the central area seems to be short sighted. There is limited funding available for the improvement of the public realm, and the development of the Wharf Green scheme has shown that the improvement of the public realm to a high standard can be an expensive practice.

Thanks for sharing!

Mr Tomlinson has clearly been stocking up on sand recently, enough to thoroughly bury his head. His response to the announcement that Marks & Spencer will open a branch at the Orbital Centre in north Swindon is shockingly naïve.

This is absolutely fantastic news for my residents. There have been rumours of this coming forward for quite some time. And during that period residents have been asking me to support it – which I am delighted to do. It is an excellent addition to the Orbital Shopping Park and I’m sure it will prove very popular. But the Orbital centre will never replace Swindon town centre. It will work alongside the town centre to improve Swindon’s offer to shoppers.

Decades of experience of ‘out-of-town’ shopping centres in towns across the country demonstrate that the reality is highly likely to be the opposite. You don’t need to be a genius to realise that anyone from North Swindon who is currently a customer at the town centre branch of M&S is unlikely to be one once the new branch opens. It’s hardly likely to lead to an increase in business at their Outlet Centre branch either. With people like Mr Tomlinson at the council leading the town centre redevelopment, the future for Swindon town centre looks bleak.

If I owned one of the flats in Erin Court or Shire Court I would be a little worried. An artist’s impression shown in The Adver on Friday give a slightly better idea as to the intended route of the canal into Swindon. It will clearly cross Kingshill Road and, following the original line of the canal, pass between Erin Court and Shire Court, before turning sharp left, through the site of what is currently a car valeting and secondhand car sales forecourt, then sharp right into Westcott Place. The flats in the two courts are built very close to the line of the old canal: they would have water lapping right below their windows. In addition, somewhere in this short length of canal a lock must be fitted in too, as Westcott Place is below the level of the old canal route.

Still, if the artist is to be believed the Falcon Inn could be the first in a new generation of canal side pubs in Swindon (for ghosts, by the look it). I’m not holding my breath. The council has yet to find the £50M to fund this without directly charging it to the council tax… which is why I say the flat owners should only be a little worried.