Page 4 - link magazine

4 The Link Magazine • March 1998
Swindon's future: the pressure for continued expansion

Bristol University Professor, Martin Boddy, with co-authors Christine Lambert and Dawn Snape have recently published City for
the 21st Century? a major study charting Swindon's post-war development. Here, Martin Boddy identifies the pressures which may
well force a further wave of town expansion and asks whether this provides the opportunity for Swindon to become truly a city for
the 21st century.
Swindon's post-war growth has ing community facilities and en- used up, the Borough Council de- will take time. The town is not
been nothing short of remarkable: suring the creation of a high qual- cided enough was enough. Un- about to be swamped by new hous-
new housing, community and lei- ity environment for the town's ex- convinced of the benefits of future ing estates.
sure facilities, new employers. panding population. Frequently growth, it decided on a strategy of The northern expansion still has a
this was in the face of opposition 'consolidation' and set its face
Development first in Parks, from the County Council and cen- against further expansion beyond long way to go. But the writing is
Walcot, Eldene and Liden, then tral government who wanted to what was already in the pipeline - on the wall. Major expansion -
West Swindon, and now the North- limit new growth. meaning, essentially, beyond com- whether east of the A419 or south
ern expansion have brought both pletion of the northern expansion. between the town and the M4 -
physical expansion and major The mid-1980s, however, was a does now seem to be inevitable, it
growth in population. major turning point. Increasingly Recently the news has been full of is only a question of when.
frustrated by financial pressures the debate about the massive pre-
Swindon's history has been one of and with its own stock of land dicted increase in the numbers of So what are the choices? The Bor-
growth and expansion - even the ough Council could try and resist,
now 'historic railway village was Newfamilies, new housing: newcomers to the northern development, from left, to hold the line against further
once 'New Swindon' built on green Julia and Sarah Beck, Karen, Jack and Abbie Fawcett, Julie and Thomas development. This would be a
fields to house the workforce for Williams take a stroll on St Andrew's Ridge high-risk strategy. The danger
Brunel's rail engineering works - would be that development would
the expanding, high technology be forced on the town anyway,
industry of its era. and non-co-operation would give
the Borough little say over the di-
Plans drawn up in the late 1960s
rection this took or the quality of
by the Borough Council, the the outcome.
County Council and Greater Lon-
don Council saw Swindon as a city It could, on the other hand, ac-
of a quarter a million inhabitants knowledge the inevitable -but aim
by the Millennium. Growth since to harness further expansion in
then has been spectacular - if not order to secure maximum benefit
quite on the scale originally to the town's existing residents. It
planned. The Borough Council could do everything possible to
itself played a key role in the de- ensure well planned, archit-
velopment of new estates, provid- ecturally excellent development,
with good community facilities
households over the next twenty and, as in earlier phases of devel-
years or so, where they are going opment, a high quality living envi-
STOP! need, nationally, homes for at least and would mean the Borough
to live, the threat to the country-
ronment.
side and the greenbelt. The gov-
ernment is predicting that we will
It would need local consultation
a further 4.4 million households.
with central government, devel-
Given where people are keen to Council working in partnership
opers and other, local interests. It
LOOK and LISTEN before you commit yourself to any live and businesses to invest, pres- might mean the Council using part
major home improvement. New windows, doors and sures for growth in the South West at least of the land in the 'front
are particularly strong. The region
especially a new conservato ry garden' inherited from the County
also has less in the way of so called
can transform your home... 'brownfield'sites, sites which have Council.
but its worth using this f Tivz already been developed for, say, It would also mean the town tak-
simpre checklist: q industry, which provide opportu- ing control of its own future and
CHOICE.•gre theyofferin a nities now for housing develop- developing a new vision for Swin-
range of designs and good
F `': •' a .•:^ locking options? various ment. Swindon itself lost a major don, an inspirational plan for Swin-
opportunity with the GWR site don's development over the next
• Q REP
OTATjjN• /s it a well known
xy LOCAL firm, which would have been ideal for 20 to 25 years of the sort that guided
With a re an urban-village type of develop- development from the early 1970s
putation to p opt
ment. on.
Q Q UA LITY. • Are the p r Greenfield housing development Potentially this would provide the
instal/supplied b oducts they on a significant scale is, therefore, basis for Swindon to make the tran-
ike
y
national manu f acturerlike inevitable. Swindon itself, after sition from a rather awkwardly-
a ma
Coastal? the latest decisions on the new sized town to become truly a city
P6UARAryTE./smyinvestment Wiltshire Structure Plan, is cur- for the 21st century, with the for-
roperly protected? ' rently being expected to find sites mal status and recognition, the self-
for a further 8,500 or so houses on belief and the quality of urban en-
top of the 10,000 already in the vironment which that implies.
pipeline in the northern expansion.
• Cityforthe2lstCentury?isavail-
► ERMIN WINDOWS And while Wiltshire and Swindon able direct from Biblios, Star Road,
::,'
can argue over the figures, neigh- Partridge Green, West Sussex,
Call Brian Smith on 824419 bouring counties such as Glouces- RH13 8LD, tel 01403 710851 price
i tershire are no keener to see their £16.95 including post and pack-
c A supplier and installer of / Iil/Ir Windows, doors and conservatories
own share of growth increased. It ing, or locally from Waterstones.