Council seeks to re-invent Swindon

Councillors will discuss the re-invention of Swindon on Wednesday (November 13).

Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet will consider a draft Heart of Swindon document, put together with input from partners including key landowners, developers, educational institutions, Government agencies and businesses.

If councillors agree to move forward with the project, the council will be looking for public feedback to the document, which raises the possibility of:

Redeveloping the Brunel Shopping Centre
5,000 homes in the town centre
Creation of a new central space for the Wilkes Academy of Performing Arts

Heart of Swindon proposes eight draft headline ambitions, stated as:

A Centre for Living: Creating new, mixed-use neighbourhoods in the heart of the town.
A Creative Centre: Supporting Swindon’s growing creative community and delivering a new entertainment venue.
A Centre for Learning: Giving Swindon’s higher education institutions a place in the centre and creating a hub for students.
A Knowledge Centre: Bringing Swindon’s leading enterprises into the heart of town and providing spaces to support small businesses.
A Green & Healthy Centre: Investing in and connecting our central parks, along with extensive greening of the centre through tree planting and creation of new pocket parks.
A Vibrant Centre: Providing a broad mix of shops, places to eat and drink, and community spaces that bring vibrancy throughout the day and into the evening.
A Connected Centre: Creating stronger connections into the heart of Swindon and between its districts, including across the rail line.
A Proud Swindon: Committing to creatively re-using Swindon’s historic buildings and to ensure that development responds to the town’s rich history of innovation.

Other plans include bringing forward residential-led development at the Kimmerfields district and creating a regional scale entertainment venue, able to cater for large West End touring shows, music concerts and other big events.

The council’s cabinet will also be asked to decide on the location of the new entertainment venue and approve further work to develop a detailed business case for it.

Organisations including FI Real Estate Management (owner of the Brunel Centre), GCL (representing The Parade), William Arthur Property (owner of commercial property in the town centre), Network Rail, the University of Bath and Business West attended a number of workshops to help shape the ambitions.

The workshops were also attended by Cllr Gary Sumner, the borough council’s leader of the opposition and shadow cabinet member for planning and regeneration, in a bid to gain cross-party support for the ambitions.

Cllr Jim Robbins, leader of the council, said: “Everyone is clear on the diagnosis: Swindon town centre needs complete reinvention. It’s equally clear that this will require the collaboration of the private, public and voluntary sector which is why I’m delighted our partners have come together to help shape this exciting set of ambitions for the town centre.

“Of course, they are just ambitions. But I’m determined the final vision document won’t be another glossy travel brochure where we never arrive at the airport.

“I understand public cynicism created by previous plans and grand schemes for the town centre that haven’t materialised. But we need to flip the cynicism and get behind a positive way forward.

“Once the vision is finalised, many of the ambitions will require significant investment from the private sector to translate into reality over the next decade and beyond.

“Nothing in this world is guaranteed. But unquestionably, in the short-term, there are positive changes and improvements that can be delivered in the town centre over the next few years. That includes the council-led work to build a new entertainment venue in the town centre.

“I am pleased that there is recognition of the need for cross-party support to unite around this vision in order to help give our partners confidence in making long-term investment decisions.”

The draft Heart of Swindon document can be seen here.

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