Page 6 - link magazine

6 swindonlink.com • December 2012
Take the extension of Thamesdown Drive seriously

It is over 15 years since Swindon Borough Council, then Thamesdown, was considering detailed plans for a northern relief road to join up
what is now Thamesdown Drive with Great Western Way, to remove the predicted pressure from routes such as Mead Way through West
Swindon and Akers Way into Moredon and Cheney Manor.
Yet despite the construction of
10,000 houses in the north western
sector of the town, and the prospect
of 1,695 more at Tadpole Farm, little
progress has been made on the pro-
vision of the road. Now councillors,
Haydon Wick Parish Council and
residents alike want to know what
Swindon Council is doing about it.
Plans for the link road from the
north have a checkered history,
being the victim of many changes
in the government, local authori-
ties, planning rules and funding
programmes. The road plans were
originally drawn up by the pre-
1997 highway authority Wiltshire
County Council, taking traffic to
the east of the railway line and onto
a flyover at Bruce Street Bridges.
The preferred route is now from
Thamesdown Drive under or over Members of Haydon Wick Parish Council with Swindon councillor Des Moffat holding up a plan from the mid-1990s
showing the route of Thamesdown Drive, including the yet to be built extension. Picture: Richard Wintle www.calyxpix.com
the railway line to emerge next to
B&Q on Great Western Way. The honest answer is that nobody project in Norwich for an 8.7 mile Explaining the council’s position
However the council has put the has ever properly costed the route. dual carriageway is estimated at just Shaw councillor Keith Williams
project on the back burner for the last “The scale of building 1.3 mile of over £90 million and the estimate said: “Swindon Council cannot af-
few years, with councillors claiming dual carriageway and a tunnel un- for the 4.8km bypass at Bedale, ford the road in isolation. The devel-
construction would cost £100 mil- der or a bridge crossing the railway North Yorkshire is £42 million. opers’ section 106 contribution was
lion or more. Rodbourne Cheney line is relatively small compared While the work required to cross due to expire so was made available
councillor Des Moffat believes the with infrastructure projects else- the railway line will be expensive for other schemes. Robert Buckland
cost has taken on the status of an where. To put the figures in context, there is a strong likelihood that the MP is now making representations
urban myth. He said: “It was a case the 9 miles of the Newbury bypass cost quoted for so many years is a with central government to see what
of plucking figures out of the air. cost just over £100 million; a current gross over-estimate.” funding is possible for both this and
Calling for Swindon to treat the the Wichelstowe link road.”
project with urgency Cllr Moffat Cllr Dale Heenan, cabinet mem-
said: “Central government is now ber for strategic planning and
advising local authorities to get sustainability said: “Every resident,
some infrastructure projects ready community group and councillor
for implementation around 2016 wants to see this road built. The
to 2017, so we now need to press route has been protected on the
for this road to become a reality.” strategic plan, which will go to
Haydon Wick Parish Council public enquiry next summer, and
6 Star Service from chair Richard Hailstone said: the project has been fully costed at
£100m to include junction improve-
“North and West Swindon is becom-
Trevor Salter ing clogged with traffic. The conges- ments and considerations for the
tion on Mead Way in West Swindon impact on surrounding roads.
✰ View and select in your own and Akers Way through Moredon is “This is a realistic costing; even
home - day or evening getting heavier all the time. in 2009 the strategic transport plan
✰ Free no obligation “The Thamesdown Drive exten- stated that it would cost a minimum
measuring and quoting sion is essential to the success of of £60m. It’s now a question of get-
Swindon. We’re now experiencing ting money from developers and
✰ Luxury underlay, all the consequences of allowing all from central government to fund it.”
accessories and installation the houses to be completed and
included in the price! occupied in North Swindon whilst Lydiard Fields
✰ Competitive prices: not building the road when it was application
Our customers tell us so See the carpet or floor covering of first proposed.” Swindon Council has received
Expressing worry that all the
✰ Old carpets lifted and your choice, where it will be enjoyed, planning and engineering design a planning application on behalf
removed next to your other furnishings, effort is now focussed on the East- of Persimmon Homes to build 73
✰ Furniture moved and receive the benefit of 35 years ern Development whilst North and houses on green fields on the edge
as required of experience in Swindon West Swindon is being ignored, of Grange Park.
Richard added: “In the east the A planning inspector rejected a
No hidden extras; no obligation - just great service council is proposing that a relief much bigger number in 2011 but
Challenge me to beat your existing quotes. road be built between the A419 and left the door open for an application
You will be pleasantly surprised the A420 before the houses are built. which does not visually intrude on
It’s good that the borough realises Lydiard Park.
Call Trevor: that infrastructure needs to go in The council’s planning commit-
01793 812995 or 07860 882588 ahead of development but we need tee should consider the application
or email: [email protected] the council to deal seriously with the in January or February.
See the full story and site layout
www.carpetsswindon.co.uk problems that have been created on
our side of the town.” plan at www.bit.ly/LFplans

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