Page 8 - link magazine

8 The Link Magazine • March 2004
Where should a university go?
The forces for and against the development of a university campus at Coate Water are lined up, each arguing their case forcefully.
The University of Bath wants to Developers Persimmon Homes Saunders of Swindon Friends of velopment and the university
build a campus big enough for at and Redrow own the land and will the Earth wrote of her anger at should be a central feature of town
least 10,000 students and 2,500 staff give at least 60 hectares in return how the promises made only a few centre regeneration, close to the
between Coate and the Great West- for permission to build 1,800 years ago about the protection of Science Research Councils already
ern Hospital atCommonhead. Vice houses and businesses. In Novem- Swindon's open spaces are being located at North Star and the new
chancellor Glynis Breakwell has ber, Swindon Council amended its turned on their head. "When plan- Swindon College, preserving
stated bluntly that Coate is the only draft Local Plan to 2011 to include ning permission for the Great Coate Water as a national nature
site that will be considered so that Coate as a development site. Western Hospital was given, we reserve in a semi-rural setting.
there can be a cross pollination of However, environmentalists were repeatedly assured that this The university has stated that it
scientific and medical research, a vigorously oppose building at was a one-off. The building was will do nothing to harm the Coate
so-called 'synergy of interest.' Coate, accusing the council of re- allowed as an exception to the plan- environment. If the development
Bath is ranked as the fifth highest neging on promises made to pro- ning rules. Yet we have known, for were to go ahead, the university
performing university in the coun- tect the area when permission for years, that developers have been proposes to establish a smaller
try and its pharmacy department is the hospital was given in the 1990s. queuing up to build on the remain- town centre campus focussed on
thought to be the best in Europe. In the December Link Jean ing land between Commonhead the creative arts.
roundabout and Coate. We knew A anti-university web site can
that the hospital would just open be found at www.savecoate.org.uk
the flood-gates." To sign the online petition, go to
She argues that Swindon does www. petit ion online, corn
not need another out of town de- savecoat/petition.html

Swindon and Bath, an ironic synergy
Sites for a university in Swindon have been identified over many
years but the town was only successful when the University of Bath
formed a partnership with Swindon Council in 1998. The council put
up about £6 million in cash and property to cement the relationship.

KINGFISHER

•
WINDOWS DOORS • CONSERVATORIES

THE CLEAR CHOICE

FOR QUALITY,

VALUE AND SECURITY

• Full Range of PVC-U and Aluminium Products
• Various Colours and Finishes
• Competitive Finance Options Ideas for Swindon's expansion in 1965. Growth to the west was limited, but
(written details on request) S 1 f
• 10 Year Guarantee went all the way to Tadpole Lane in the north, where it is now. Building in the
'Front Garden' was envisaged, next to then proposed M4. The two university
Visitors are alwa s welcome sites are shown outlined in red
y
Open 6 days a week
Mon to Fri 9.00am - 5.00pm In the early 1960s Swindon Cor- In the text of the report 150 acres
poration submitted proposals to
Saturday 8.00am - 12.30pm j4 the University Grants Committee of surplus railway land at North
Star was also identified as an ur-
to bid for one of the new universi- ban site for a university or a new
IV 9fr ties being considered by Central general hospital.
95 ]412 FV 1EDE Wi0 Government. But Swindon had already been
1EOEn4ii05 . s
GrtJ
KM 40251 Z In Swindon: a plan for expansion, a by-passed in the race for a new
FOR FREE LOCAL ADVICE AND ESTIMATE
study published in 1965 which set university in the south-west. Build-
et
k ples two sites for a university were 1964. Thus there is a certain irony
G "P ,3 out development planning princi- ing started on the Bath campus in
wdy
identified, a preferred area of 200 that the desire of Swindon for a
v acres at Coate Water and an alter- higher seat of learning is being
UNIT 7, BARNFIELD ROAD, GREAT WESTERN WAY, WE ARIE
SWINDON SN2 2DJ HERE native at Stanton Park, near provided by a city that was its
Kingsdown. competitor some 40 years ago.