Swindon Science Park refused

Councillors have rejected plans for the proposed Swindon Science Park.

Swindon Borough Council’s planning committee turned down the proposals for the 33,000 sq m development at a 35-hectare site at Inlands Farm, Wanborough at its meeting on Tuesday, August 25.

The scheme was proposed by Wasdell Packaging which provides packaging for the pharmaceutical industry and would have occupied part of the development.

In a letter to councillors the company said the park would help Swindon compete with Green Park in Reading and the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.

However, a vociferous campaign by the South Swindon Protection Group opposed the scheme and the council ruled it was outside the defined settlement boundary.

The fast-growing firm which employs around 650 people at the Euroway Industrial Estate in Blagrove, Swindon, had planned to move there and argued that its proposals would lead to the creation of a further 800 jobs.

It also threatened to leave the town if the scheme was refused and has earmarked a possible new site in Basingstoke.

The company declined to comment to Thames Tap.

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