Plans to breathe new life into the town centre have been dealt a body blow with the news that Swindon Borough Council have terminated their agreement with development company Muse.
The original scheme would have seen the creation of a 20-acre business district site - billed as “one of the biggest business space opportunities west of London”, a new mixed-use business district with up to 645,000 sq ft of new office space, 450 homes, cafés, shops, restaurants, close to the station and next to the town centre.
Garry Perkins, the cabinet member responsible for regeneration, said: “Revitalising the town centre remains a top priority for the council and the £350m Kimmerfields regeneration project is a key part of those plans.
“On Wednesday, the cabinet authorised officers to enter into negotiations with Muse and the Homes and Communities Agency to agree a mutual termination of the development agreement.
“The council has taken this action to accelerate progress on the site following the successful completion of the first phase.
“Options for delivering the remainder of the scheme are already under way, including plans for the new bus exchange, and these will be brought before the cabinet in December.
“Our economic strategy outlines how we intend to grow the value of Swindon’s economy by almost £2bn over the next 10 years. The redevelopment of the town centre, together with the exciting plans to regenerate North Star, will highlight exactly why Swindon is ranked among the most investable towns or cities in the UK.”
Labour spokesman for town centre regeneration, Jane Milner-Barry, said the decision to cut ties with Muse was "another spectacular U-turn from the Conservative cabinet and represents an end to 10 years of failure to regenerate our town centre."
She added: “All the talk of £350m of investment was always a load of nonsense and now it has been shown to be.
“Labour supports this move and have been calling for this for many years. Indeed I proposed this at a recent council meeting.
“Muse have delivered no private sector investment into the town centre and Swindon residents have rightly been frustrated with the lack of action.
"We think the council needs to project manage the regeneration of the town centre itself rather than being locked into an expensive agreement with a private company.
"We also need to review the proposed road network that was part of this scheme. The Whalebridge roundabout was part of the Muse agreement and has long been a bugbear of Swindon motorists. There are other road network proposals which will lead to traffic gridlock so need to be amended.
"Most importantly the council needs to learn not to reach agreements with companies who fail to deliver. A cursory bit of research shows Muse has failed to deliver similar schemes across the country and the council got it wrong.
"Hopefully lessons will be learnt."
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