Page 6 - link magazine

6 swindonlink.com • March 2010
‘New’ New Swindon Company to get a grip

on town centre regeneration

The New Swindon Company, established in 2002 with responsibility for regenerating the town centre, is recruiting a new chief executive
with a strong commercial outlook, and has plans to re-form its board.
The planned company shake-up soon come back into prominence
was documented in a council paper and work should start on revamp-
at the end of last year, highlighting ing the railway station forecourt.
the need to make better use of re- Coun Young said, “the designs
sources and to reduce duplication for Phase 1 of Union Square,
of effort between the council and between the station and Fleming
the company’s activities. Way, are due imminently, as are
Phil Young, Swindon Council proposals for the old college site,
cabinet member for regeneration, after lengthy negotiations with the
said, “previously the New Swindon developers.”
Company was part-owned by three Given the setbacks caused by the
organisations, namely the Homes recession in the last 20 months, these
Progress promised on one of the town centre’s many undeveloped sites and Communities Agency, the will be important achievements to
South West Regional Development add to the work completed so far,
Agency and Swindon Borough such as the Wharf Green develop-
Council, which made real account- ment in 2008, and the on-going
ability difficult. transformation of Canal Walk.
“We now want to sort out the Responding to the criticism of
governance issues, and make the the performance of the regeneration
council the sole owner for regen- and cynicism that nothing changes,
eration so that the business-facing Coun Young said, “one of the things
and business-supporting functions we haven’t done particularly well
become more effective and robust.” in the past is manage people’s
As a result, the new New Swin- expectations. Regeneration takes
don Company will have a broader a long time: the ground work has
remit and geographical scope, to been done, we’ve got the vision in
ensure that plans for the regen- place and while it’s unrealistic to
eration of the town centre and Old expect new buildings to be spring-
Town are in line with the needs of ing up immediately, certainly over
the borough at large. the next three years depending on
The company has indicated that the financial climate, we need to
the old Swindon College site will focus on delivering it.”

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