Page 5 - link magazine

The Link Magazine • January 2006 5
Coate site destined for university
But if no uni, no houses says council leader
The Gateway site, between the Great Western Hospital, Coate Water
and the M4, has been endorsed by Government Planning Inspector
David Fenton as the place where a 10,000 student campus for the
University of Bath in Swindon could take place.
In his report of the inquiry into the fact that 1,800 houses will be
the Swindon Borough Local Plan, the maximum permitted, and they
David Fenton says the benefits of will not be considered part of the
promoting a high quality univer- 2011 Structure Plan. This means
sitypresence inSwindon outweigh developers cannot argue that
the disadvantages of allocating the building must rush ahead to meet
land, but he recommends greater housing allocations.
protectionforwildlife and the sur- The University of Bath still has
rounding landscape, and calls for to secure Government funding to
an increased buffer zone between build the campus. Work is unliely
development and Coate Water tocommencebefore2008withfirst
Country Park. completions in 2010 at the earliest.

The land for the campus is be- Planning to 2011
ing given to the University of Bath The Swindon Borough Local Plan
by property developers Persim- is a blueprint for all future devel-
mon and Redrow who plan up to opment and contains detailed plan-
1,800 houses and a business park, ning policies for housing, employ-
as well as shops and a primary ment, retail, leisure, transport and
school. However council leader community facilities. The full re-
Mike Bawden said: "the council port can be downloaded from:
made the decision to support the www.swindon.gov.uk/
university project, but if the uni- inspectors_ report. pdf
versity's plans founder we will
strongly oppose any plans to only
put housing at Coate. This view is Trust fights to hang on
endorsed in the report. The mes- to Jefferies' heritage
sage is simple — if no university, The newly formed Jefferies Land
then no housing." Conservation Trust held its first
He added, "we are also very general meeting on 10 December.
pleased that the buffer between Formed in September in re-
any development and the country sponse to the proposed develop-
park should be increased; we will ment near Coate Water, the trust's
push for the maximum." aim is to protect and enhance the
The inspector wants views of special landscape which inspired
the Downs from Coate Water pro- Richard Jefferies, one of England's
tected which means the council's most individual writers on nature
planning committee will have to and the countryside, who was born
consider how high buildings can and bred at Coate, where his old
be to minimise visual intrusion. house stands as a museum.
can Saunders of the Save Coate Now that the decision to build
Campaign which collected over on much of the land has been made
20,000 signatures on a petition ob- the trust will be closely monitor-
jecting to the Gateway proposals ing detailed planning applications
said the campaigners were bitterly to ensure the spirit and recom-
disappointed by the inspector's mendation of the planning inspec-
ruling. However they take heart tors rulings are followed.
from the increased buffer zone next To join the Jefferies Land Con-
to the park, around local nature servation Trust call Jean Saunders
reserves and along significant on 783040.
streams. She draws attention to www.jefferiesland.org.uk