DAVID RENARD: Town centre has improved massively in past decade

The leader of Swindon Borough Council presents his weekly Link column...

LAST week I visited Regent Circus, and it made me pause to think about the vast improvements to the town centre that have occurred over the last decade.

Of course, there has been no “big bang” event as has happened in a few other places, and I think it is the gradual change that makes it harder for us all to appreciate what Swindon has achieved.

Think about the route to the Civic from the station as compared with ten years ago. Today you leave the railway station and step onto a clean, modern forecourt, with our Millennium Clock as a feature.

From there you head to Fleming Way, where you can see the new Jury’s Inn hotel – a private sector investment – opposite Kimmerfied Court, a public sector project providing 44 homes for older residents.  Alongside it, there is a modern business-oriented car park, that is already starting to cover the cost of the investment as commuters and employers start to use it.

We can head to the Parade, which has seen over £20m of private investment in new shops, including a new BHS store.  Before this, you will see an open, inviting space, without the tired old “sails” or less appealing street vendors.

As you turn into Regent Street, you can see the new paving and seating, which came through ring-fenced central government money that we could not have spent on anything else.  You will see the green bridge linking the Brunel Centre to the Brunel Tower.  I cannot leave out the water feature, an innovation loved by children of all ages and popular with visiting politicians of all parties, judging by the number of photo opportunities that seem to take place there.

Moving to the end of Regent Street, you see one of our greatest achievements.  For decades our modern, thriving, industrious town was dependent on a central library housed in post Second World War pre-fabricated huts.

The old town hall was underused and a liability, not an asset.  Given the state of the Council in 2003, it was a bold move by my predecessors to say that Swindon deserved better.  Through this Administration’s efforts, we opened our award-winning new central library on time and on budget.

All this brings me back to the starting point of this column, Regent Circus.  How glad we all were when developers finally demolished the obsolete 1960s college building.  The new cinema, restaurants, and shops have made a valuable contribution to the area.  In fact, the private sector valued the site at £40m when it the developers sold it last year.

If anyone tells you nothing has improved in the town centre in recent years, the evidence says otherwise.