Page 6 - link magazine

6 The Link Magazine • November 2003
Plan for the south changed after public consultations
Comments made by the public on the plans to develop 4,500 houses in Swindon's 'front garden', between Old Town, West Swindon and the
M4 have resulted in amended outline proposals to Swindon Council's planning committee by developers Bryant Homes.
These focus on: i flooding, noise from the M4 and
•
improved traffic and transport s= `_ sue. ^? ' the railway,the needs of wildlife,
provision including significant k. * "=! y' ^ is .^ damage to archaeological sites and
changes to ease traffic flow at M4 w^^,..^ '^ '^` . A T traffic congestion.
Junction 16 and the completion of -'^ f^ ^`+ °^ y ° 0 > ^b •^ "In the early 1990s the council
the Old Town Southern Relie . 'I^:t` ,y objected to the development, but
Road, parallel to the motorway, , TI ', R^ having taken ownership of the site
within fiveyearsof the projectstart; in 1997 the council is keen to see it
• ecology and the environmental 1 9 _ < s'' .1.^ built on. The councillors' decision
issue to protect and enhance wild- :- ( / was based on a technical appraisal
life habitats by providing a new ' ' r f , ' i 3 in favour of the Front Garden de-
11.3 hectares newt conservation • velopment and against develop-
r
area, and alterations to the devel- ,; '# !' ment east of the A419, notwith-
opment along the canal to protect y ,,. standing at least 47 errors and
the existing water vole habitat; ( ^a omissions in the document.
• increased allocation of land for ` "Now we suddenl have the ex
Y
public open spaces; An artist's impression of high dei.^ihl I N I in the Front Garden traordinary proposal by the coun-
• extensive landscaping and na- cil for more development to the
ture conservation measures to the Changes have been made to land ture of the proposals with a second east of the A419 which was consid-
south of the M4. allocated for other uses, such as canal basin introduced, to act with ered to be less sustainable than the
To maintain the number of employment, to make these the new canals and balancing lakes Front Garden. What a pity they
homes on the site, the overall aver- amendments possible. as water storage capacity to en- did not agree to build on that area
age residential density has in- Flooding continues to be a ma- sure that none of the developed five years ago, thus developing one
creased from 40.6 to 41.3 dwell- jor concern for groups objecting to areas are affected by flooding. greenfield site, not two."
ings per hectare. the development and no building However, the Front Garden Ac- The plans can be seen at Swindon
As before, the height of the build- will take place in the floodplain, as tion Group is still resolute in its Council offices in Premier House,
ings will not exceed five storeys approved by the Environment opposition to the proposals. Chair- Station Road until 31 October.
and building heights will be var- Agency. man Terry King said the main ob- A project newsletter was deliv-
ied with the taller ones located in The restored North Wilts Canal jections raised five years ago were ered to Swindon homes in October.
local 'village' centres. has become an moreimportantfea- just as strong. These are the risk of www.swindonsda.co.uk

Education service turns the corner. More improvement expected.
The management of education in Swindon has significantly improved since Government inspectors Ofsted failed the council's education
department in September 2001, and is on the way to a clean bill of health, according to Director of Education Hilary Pitts.
Now run by private contractors acknowledges that we are moving
Tribal Group, with oversight by rapidly down the path to success."
an Education Partnership Board Council lead member for educa-
made up of representatives from tion coun Gary Perkins said the
the council, schools and the De- Education Partnership Board had
partment for Education and Skills, been an important factor in the
the service has improved signifi- turnaround of education in Swin-
cantly. don. "The board has taken the poli-
On a scale of seven grades, in tics out of education; getting all
2001 Ofsted scored Swindon over- r , parties concerned to work together
all with an abysmal 7, assessing has been very important."
the authority as very poor and fail- The full report on Swindon can
ing to provide effective support to be found at www.ofsted.gov.uk
Confidence in the future, from left, acting leader of the council, Ian Dobie, Chief
schools. In Spring 2002 director of Executive Simon Birch, director of education Hilary Pitts, coun Gary Perkins
education Mike Lusty left, along Schools budgets secure
with a clutch of senior education as unsatisfactory are the clarity and flags a concern about progress be- from North schools' needs
officers, and the former leader of coherence of corporate plans and yond that date. It also says that A shortfall of up to £1 million to
the council, Sue Bates, resigned. their implementation, the manage- continued work is needed to re- fund the building of new schools
Now the inspectors, who exam- ment of its assets, support for in- build the trust and confidence of in North Swindon is being pre-
ine 52 areas of education manage- formation technology at primary schools, which was totally lost in dicted but council lead member
ment, have significantly lifted the level, the performance of schools, the run up to the last inspection. for education coun Gary Perkins
overall assessment: grade 3, highly as well as the democratic scrutiny Although there have been says existing school budgets will
satisfactory, for the progress made of education and the leadership changes in the council and the edu- not be cut to cover it.
by the LEA overall in improving provided by elected members of cation department, the inspectors He said that the sale of assets
its performance; 4, satisfactory, for the council. say it is too early to assess the such as land made available when
the LEA's capacity for further im- The inspectors are encouraged impact of most of them. Another Hreod is rebuilt on one site will be
provement and to address the rec- by the management of the educa- full inspection is expected in the used to cover the funding gap.
ommendations of the inspection; tion service by private contractors next 12 to 15 months.
and 4, satisfactory, for the overall Tribal, working with borough Ms Pitts said, "we are delighted Twenty years on
effectiveness of the LEA. council staff, as well as the over- that the inspection has recognised As The Link went to press Westlea
Areas that did well in the in- sight of the independently chaired the progress made. We know that School in Langstone Way un-
spection include the care of chil- Education Partnership Board. The we have a great deal of work to do veiled a sculpture of a parent
dren in public care, support for report says the education service but this is a very positive outcome holding a child outside the front
literacy, numeracy, governors and has sufficient capacity to improve and recognises all the hard work entrance, to celebrate its twenti-
attendance, and provision of fi- within the current contractual ar- of staff. We are sure that we can eth anniversary.
nancial services. rangements. Tribal have been em- achieve excellence through part- More school news on
Areas which are still regarded ployed until 2005 and the report nership and the inspection report pages 14, 15, 30 and 31.