Page 8 - link magazine

8 swindonlink.com • December 2011
Can Tadpole Farm go ahead? asks North MP

After well over a year of speculation, discussion and consultation, Crest Nicholson has applied to Swndon Council to build 1,700 homes, a primary
school, shops and an employment area at Tadpole Farm, north of Oakhurst and Redhouse.
North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson will be speaking about his position on the proposal at a meeting on Friday 2 December, 7pm, at Blunsdon
Village Hall. Here he makes it clear that Crest have yet to satisfy him that the project is viable.
Let me be clear and say that I remain serious implications. It is absolutely it has not yet been confirmed wheth- 5. Quality of life: Now the Gov-
opposed to this development. clear that local roads can’t handle er additional land would also be ernment has scrapped Labour’s
Whilst it is welcome news that the proposed additional traffic. offered for secondary school places. high housing density rules, we
the proposed housing numbers 2. Open spaces: I have continued to Isambard is land-locked and there have seen the proposed number
have been cut from 3,000 to 1,700, make strong representations on the is pressure for it to be expanded, so of houses drop from 3,000 to 1,700.
ongoing concerns about traffic, in- need for a ‘green lung’ that would failure to secure an additional site This is essential, as it allows for
frastructure and school places mean separate Tadpole Farm from the would only compound the problem. appropriate levels of open space
that the plans are not acceptable. existing Northern Sector develop- 4. Existing infrastructure: Crest and sufficient parking spaces, all
There are five key areas to be ment. On this, the developers do Nicholson promised so much with too often compromised in higher
considered in determining whether seem to be delivering. the Redhouse development, yet we density developments.
the development is sustainable and 3. School places: There is incred- still await the completion of the vil- Applying those five tests to Tadpole
appropriate. Farm, my conclusion is that with
ible pressure on school places in lage centre which looks very differ-
1. Traffic: The developers suggest the Northern Sector. It appears the ent from their glossy sales brochures. the failings on traffic and existing
directing traffic over a combination developers would offer additional Residents understandably will be infrastructure and confusion over
of Oakhurst Way, Eastbury Way and land for a primary school. However wary of giving them the benefit of the school places, I remain opposed
Ermin Street (the old A419), all with the doubt on Tadpole Farm. to the development.
www.justintomlinson.com
• The plans can be seen at http://
bit.ly/sbcplans Search: S/11/1588
• Details of the 2 December meet-
ing: http://bit.ly/oakhurst residents
Oakhurst residents
say Tadpole Farm
doesn’t stack up
Oakhurst Residents’ Association
chair Paul Exell explains why
ORA opposes Crest Nicholson’s
proposal to build at Tadpole Farm.
Roads in North and West Swindon
are already stretched to breaking
point with Oakhurst Way and
Garsington Drive difficult and
dangerous for school children to
cross, coupled with the volume
of traffic that uses Tadpole Lane/
Oakhurst Way as a rat run to get
from the A419 to Swindon instead
of using Thamesdown Drive.
Swindon Council’s own forecast-
ing predicts that there will be a need
for around 400 primary places and
300 secondary school places. Crest’s
Beautiful latest plans includes a primary
• Oak school but no land allocation for
secondary places.
• Pine • Futons There is also very little employ-
• Painted Furniture ment in North Swindon, so people
Plus: Many lovely moving into such a development
will need to commute, adding yet
accessories for your home more traffic to the roads. Swindon’s
Core Planning Strategy states that
developments should be designed
to minimize reliance on car journeys.
There are also unanswered
concerns about the impact of the
development at Tadpole Farm and
River Ray and flooding upstream.
The proposed Waste to Energy
plant next to the Tadpole Farm site
is a major worry in terms of being
an untried technology, as well as
Open: Mon to Sat 9.30am – 5.30pm Sun 10.30am – 4.30pm concern about transport, storage
Willoby's Furniture Co. 34 Wood Street Old Town Swindon Wiltshire SN1 4AB and processing of municipal solid
waste adjacent to a residential area.
This is a brief overview of Paul’s
Tel: 01793 693696 [email protected] www.willobysfurniture.co.uk article. Read the full version at
www.swindonlink.com

1-20 December 11.indd 8 17/11/2011 15:31