On 22 April, Swindon Borough Council cabinet members agreed: "that the Director of Housing be authorised to design and carry out a consultation to complete the construction of 64 units at Windmill Hill site at an estimated cost of £15.1 million.”
The original early 1970s West Swindon Master Plan designated the land for housing, but the baby bulge of the 1980s forced Wiltshire County Council (the educational authority at the time) to negotiate the temporary use of the site for a school.
Windmill Hill Primary School was opened in a pre-fabricated building by poet Pam Ayres in 1988 (pictured). The school closed after considerable protest by parents in 2008 when it was merged with Freshbrook Primary School as Millbrook Primary to reflect the fall in the birth rate as West Swindon matured.
After more than ten years, which saw the school building being removed after being destoyed by fire - pictured, the landowner Swindon Borough Council is developing a proposal for social housing on the site. An earlier idea, in about 2013, that the part of the site upon which the school building stood could be offered to people want to self-build their homes seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Some might think the land should not be built upon, this is not an option, it will be developed. It has always been set aside for housing, but what kind of housing is a question to be raised.
Should it all be for social housing or should other options be considered? Two ideas for example, could the houses be built to an ultra-low energy use standard? And with the National Self-Build and Renovation Centre just two miles away, should self-build still be considered?
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