Swindon Borough Council leader David Renard explains the council's plans for the town centre, and shares information about the works that have started taking place.
"We have cranes on the skyline, we've got diggers as we speak undertaking works.
"Things are happening in Swindon town centre when for many years they didn't. The proof's in the pudding."
Cllr Renard agreed to give Swindon Link readers an insight into what to expect once the massive redevelopment of the Fleming Way area is complete.
Asked what people will experience at the end of the three-year project, he said: "What you'll see is a tree-lined boulevard which is primarily designed for buses and cyclists.
"It will be a place where you can change between forms of public transport because the railway station will be nearby
"There will be both local and regional buses coming down Fleming Way. There will be cycle ways with appropriate storage facilities, and it's going to be a much nicer place for pedestrians as well.
"It will be easier for them to make their way from the station, through the Tri Centre, past the new Zurich building - Unity Place - and straight into the town centre."
The improved Fleming Way will complement the 20-acre Kimmerfields project, which will include a cultural quarter with a media arts centre and pavilion, green space, commercial space and new homes.
The recently completed Zurich office building is part of the project.
Some critics say the era of town centres has passed, thanks to online commerce and out-of-town big box retail parks, but Cllr Renard disagrees.
"I think what we're seeing is a return to town centres in terms of what they used to be many years ago," he said.
"They were places for people to live, work, shop and do other leisure activities. For many years we saw town centres as a place for retail, to spend money.
"Times have changed. We don't need as much physical retail space - a lot of it is done online - but even so, people want to come into town centres.
"There are some things that perhaps you can't source, look at, feel and touch online in the way you can in the shops, so there will still be call for retail shops and people want experiences.
"They still come for food, they still come for leisure activities, so we'll see the town centre of the future very much like it was in the past, with multiple uses."
Cllr Renard added that the revitalised town centre would also make Swindon more competitive against rivals such as Reading and Bristol when it came to attracting more businesses to the area, and draw more custom for shops and other businesses already established there.
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