Tag: Swindon

It looks like we are in for an old-fashioned boundary dispute between Swindon and Wiltshire councils. Expect lots of petty politics, with each side saying what a disaster it would be if the other council’s proposition came to pass. In response to Wiltshire’s bid for unitary status, Swindon proposes an expansion of its territory into North Wiltshire, to accommodate the government’s proposed growth plans for the town. There has already been much petty squabbling between county and district councils with associated waste of council-tax-payers’ money (note in particular the opposing conclusions drawn from one MORI survey). We can expect much more.

There is one thing that puzzles me in Councillor Bluh’s comments though.

There are no certain plans to expand into any specific areas at this stage, but obviously it would not be possible to expand to the east because of the boundary with Oxfordshire.

Why is Oxfordshire being treated with such deference? It’s not that long ago (1974) that the Vale of White Horse was part of Berkshire (which itself disappeared as a council in 1998 when its districts gained unitary status), so the boundary can hardly be described as sacrosanct.

Update: Well that was a big fuss about nothing. The proposal got a unanimous ‘no’ at Monday’s council meeting. That’s a rather quick about-turn from Mr Bluh.

I find the response from a local bed-and-breakfast hotel to a planning application for a new Jurys Inn in central Swindon a little strange.

Mark Gregson, owner of the Royston Hotel in Victoria Road, said the bigger chains could afford to squeeze local businesses out of the area. He said: “When the Travelodge opened for business I think we reached the limit of beds to customers, and if another comes along I think it will have a negative impact. The big companies have an advantage because they can afford to cut their prices by half for six months. They can run at a loss due to their financial backing and that’s something we just can’t do.”

Well… yes… that’s all true. But Jurys Inn is not really in the same market as The Royston Hotel, in which I stayed for almost a month when I first came to Swindon. Even at half-price, a room in a Jurys Inn would still be more expensive than the equivalent in The Royston. This is a little like M&S complaining of competition from Woollies — there’s a little overlap in what they offer, but not much.

Nice to see that our recently elected councillor has a good grasp of the matter.

Central ward councillor Derique Montaut said the problem was similar to the dominance of big supermarkets. “While we recognise the positive side of this for Swindon, attention has to be given to the local traders who could be forced out of existence.”

No Derique, not at the prices Jurys Inn charge. And whilst there has been a recent local casualty to increased hotel competition, that one was part of a national chain.

Oh, one other thing. The Royston Hotel does a very nice full english breakfast. I strongly recommend it.

Having once lived, for four years, in a house facing a six lane dual carriageway trunk road, and for most of my childhood having lived very close to a main railway line, I’ve always been of the opinion that, if you chose to live by a main traffic route, you should accept that it’s going to be noisy. Not so the parishioners of Stratton St Margaret who, after six years of campaigning by their local MP (like most of the parish councillors, a red nestling), have had £160,000-worth of ‘acoustic barrier’ (tall wooden fence to you) constructed alongside the A419 Stratton Bypass, with another £240,000-worth to come. A resident quoted in the newspaper sums up my views.

Student Scott Jefferies, who lives behind the new fence in Winton Road said: “I don’t really think the fence has made much difference. You can still hear the road from outside but you can’t really hear it indoors at all. And to be honest you just get used to it. I have lived with it so long I hardly notice it anymore.”

If the picture of the MP grinning in front of the fence is typical, that’s hardly surprising: a dense growth of trees is clearly visible behind.

As noted elsewhere, today seems to have been a slow news day in the centre of the universe (Swindon to you). So, what is there to report? Well… a local footballer has opened a field and concrete pitch (‘sports facility’ to you), and Highworth Lido is to have a roof put on it (thereby seizing to be a Lido), with the great claim to fame of being ‘the only three metre diving facility within a 35 mile radius’. Wow!

Whilst I’m in favour of recycling of scarce resources or where it is the most energy efficient option, Swindon Borough Council’s requirements for it’s new recycling scheme are irksome. I’ll have so many receptacles for different types of waste in my house, there’ll be little space for much else. From July, there will be two orange boxes for paper, glass, metal and textiles recycling; clear bags for plastic bottles (but we’ll have to pay for these, to encourage us only to put them out for collection when full); green bags for garden waste; and a dark grey wheelie bin for anything else that the council won’t recycle.

Then there are the special conditions. The lids of the wheelie bins must be completely shut. I can see the intention: this, along with not collecting any over-spill waste that is not in the bins, is intended to persuade people to recycle more. But I can also foresee yobs walking down a street randomly opening wheelie bin lids, just for the ‘fun’ of seeing them being left unemptied. There’s also the minor matter of what to do if your wheelie bin goes absent with out leave. The council will provide a replacement, but only if you report it’s absence to the police. With that much hassle, you might feel inclined to buy your own replacement instead. Well, you can, but the council will not empty it.

Oh well, at least I now know what a plastic bottle is.

Seems that the might of the developers has been temporarily thwarted given a sideways nudge. Finches and swallows have been found (well, actually more a case of actively sought) nesting in Westlecott Farm (the white building and outbuildings in my earlier photographs). As a consequence the farm cannot be demolished until late August. The joy of the campaigners does seem somewhat sulky though, and their hopes unrealistic.

I’m a realist so understand that the development will go ahead, but all the setbacks might mean that they reconsider the size of it.

Delaying the demolition of one farm is but a minor blip in the path of a 4,500 house development.

I’m no fan of the New Mechanics’ Institution Preservation Trust. Their claims now that they did not know about the council’s plans, plans announced a couple of years ago as part of the council’s 50 promises, do nothing to endear them to me. Despite all that, it’s difficult not to feel that they have been rather poorly treated by the council. For four years they have effectively run the GWR barracks in the railway village as a youth and community centre (as well as having their offices there). Now, the council is to take it over and run it as… a youth service. For a blue nest controlled council to be taking a successful service into council control (effectively reverse privatisation) is, at best, unprincipled.

A scheme that provides ‘tranquility zones’ is to be extended to all schools in Swindon. Watching the video clip that accompanies the news item, it is clear that the scheme has helped some troubled soles in the school where it has run for the last six years. I’m sure though that, when I was a lad, most lessons were, in the main, ‘tranquil’. The idea of having a room bedecked with drapes and candles to allow children to ‘visualise their gems of inestimable value’ would have been met with bemusement.

‘Swindon is second safest town in the UK’ according to the headline. Not really. According to an insurer, policyholders in Swindon are the second least likely to make an insurance claim for theft. Secure, maybe, but not ‘safe’ in the sense that most people would imply from that word.

Nice to see that, so soon after he was elected following a campaign in which he criticised the blue nest for putting up Council Tax, Councillor Montaut has suggested that us Council-Tax payers pick-up the tab for any additional cleaning that’s required if there’s an increase in activity at Swindon Town Football Club’s ground.

Councillor Montaut: working hard to cost residents more!

Hat-tip: Broadgreen blogger & and the local blue egg.