It was great, and slightly surreal, to be in Downing Street presenting our Heart of Swindon plan to regenerate the town centre.
Seeing the iconic door, the staircase with the portraits of all of the previous Prime Ministers and meeting Larry the Cat were all experiences I won’t forget in a hurry, but the real prize was being able to present the plan and get the buy-in we wanted from Government that Swindon is a town on the up, and will be in their uppermost thoughts when people are approaching them with inward investment opportunities.
After being skilfully shepherded out of the building as Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, was arriving, we headed to the House of Lords terrace for the Swindon reception where we were meeting a room full of investors.
Lord Wills, the former MP for North Swindon, hosted the event and I was proud to make a speech setting out the huge potential of the town alongside Will Stone and Heidi Alexander, our excellent MPs.
We also heard from Panattoni, the company overseeing the £900m regeneration of the Honda site, First Investments, who own the Brunel Shopping centre and the Tricentre buildings, and Business West, who have been leading on the Knowledge Central development around the railway station, as well as representatives from Allies & Morrison setting out the detail of the Heart of Swindon Plan.
We then got into conversations with investors, and I can honestly say that I have seldom been in a room with as much positivity and excitement about Swindon. It was really heartening to see representatives from a range of Swindon organisations such as UKRI, the Wilkes Academy, The Royal Agricultural College, Zurich, Great Western Railways and many more engaging with investors, banks and pension companies talking up the opportunities in the town.
We have already been fielding calls and emails from potential investors wanting to discuss opportunities in more detail with us.
We are determined to deliver on the eight ambitions in the Heart of Swindon plan, which will help us to deliver the modern town centre that Swindon deserves, whilst retaining its heritage and character. As the plans progress over the summer, we will be updating residents with our progress and involving them in the plans and designs as they develop. Regenerating a space the size of Swindon town centre won’t be quick or easy, but there are a number of quick wins we can deliver this year, including demolishing the bus station and introducing a new team of wardens to stamp out anti-social behaviour.
I’d like to thank all of the people who helped make the events in London this week a success, as well as all of the residents who have helped shape the plan through our Let’s Talk Swindon events. It really felt that we took a big step forward on our journey to deliver the Better Swindon that everyone wants to see.
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