Don't hijack our march

POLITICIANS have been warned not to hijack a protest march over develop-ment in Swindon tomorrow.

The Swindon Together On Planning (STOP) march aims to highlight various planning campaigns and what protesters say is a lack of public consultation of these issues.

Several election candid-ates will attend the march but organisers have stressed that the protest is not party political.

"This is about people's lives not politics," said organiser Alan Hayward.

"Some individuals with ulterior motives may seek to get on the STOP band-wagon or to hijack the event to further their own particular cause.

"But they can be certain that the STOP organisers are having none of it."

Groups involved in the march include Save Coate, the Front Garden Action Group and the Mechanics Institute Preservation Trust and organisers also hope that people worried about Swindon's expansion into surrounding areas will also take part.

"It is tying together all of the planning-related cam-paigns in and around Swin-don," said Mr Hayward.

"There are so many pressures inside and around the town for development and most of the people who will be directly affected have not been consulted.

"We feel the only it is the only way left to us to make the decision makers take notice of the fact that so many people are so unhappy about what is going on."

South Swindon candid-ates Robert Buckland (Con-servative) and Sue Stebbing (Liberal Democrat) have both said they will attend the march, as has North Swindon UKIP candidate Robin Tingey.

The STOP march will meet at 11am tomorrow at Faringdon Road Park in Swindon.

The protesters will then march through the town centre to the Civic Offices, in Euclid Street, for a rally and speeches, which will be held at about 12.15pm.

Full details about STOP, the planned march, the current Swindon planning situation and the background to the on-going protest can be found at the website www.swindon-stop.org.uk

Not one candidate backs Coate for a new university in Swindon

AS protesters prepare to march around Swindon tomorrow over planning issues including Coate, we asked all Swindon's election candidates if the town should have a university and where it should be.

North Swindon

Mike Evemy, Liberal Democrats

"I would like to see more higher education provision in the form of a medium size university.

"But we believe faculties should be in an accessible location that is going to benefit everyone in Swindon so we don't support the University of Bath proposal to locate at Coate.

"On environmental grounds we don't believe it is right or necessary to build there. But we do actually believe that a town centre location, with more imagination, can be made to work."

Andy Newman, Socialist Unity

"Swindon should have a university, it has been the long-expressed wish of people from Swindon. What we want is a university which benefits the people in Swindon already. An out of town university which people would drive to from outside would not do that.

"I think we want a university centrally located where students will add to the vibrancy of the town.

"I would rather we waited and did it right rather than have one forced upon us by commercial interests."

Robin Tingey, UK Independence Party

"Certainly there could be some work between Swindon College, New College and Bath University in developing a facility.

"I would favour re-using the Regent Circus building, I favour the redevelopment of brownfield sites. This is a perfectly good building that doesn't need to be knocked down. Also I think the residents near Coate Water are against the development.

"It would promote education and encourage more people into higher education. I think it raises the status of the town ore towards a city."

Justin Tomlinson, Conservative

"It can be argued that a university will bring economic benefits to the town but I have concerns over the impact on the first time buyers market.

"Students will need to be housed which means first time buyers prices will rocket and this will drive away graduates.

"In terms of where it should go if we have one, we have got to explore the possibilities a lot deeper. We have got to get it right because it is for the long term."

Michael Wills, Labour

"Swindon must have a university. It is extraordinarily important for the future of the town that it has a university.

"It is not for me to say where it should go, it is for the people of Swindon. I think that is very very important.

"We have got to have a far-reaching consultation and I would expect those views to be taken very seriously by the people making the decisions who are, in the end, the university and the council."

South Swindon

Robert Buckland, Conservative

"Our finest universities have developed gradually and many of them have different sites. I don't see why we can't adopt a similar approach.

"Whilst it would make sense to have a medical school attached to the hospital why do the other faculties have to be there? There are other sites within the town which could form part of a successful university.

"The current situation of a plan for 1,800 homes but no guarantee of a university is the worst of all worlds."

Stephen Halden, UK Independence Party

"UKIP believes in democracy and I trust the borough council to make a democratic decision on behalf of the people of Swindon. I trust in democracy.

"I am aware there is a huge campaign to not build it at Coate but I am not aware of another site where it could be.

"I suppose my preference would be to protect the beautiful countryside around Swindon if possible but I would like to see improved access to university for Swindon students."

Bill Hughes, Green

"I am not so sure it should. Unless we can provide really good facilities in the town centre I think it is silly just being an adjunct of Bath or Oxford Brookes or wherever.

"The Coate development is going to go along with the thousands of homes and commercial development.

"If it was just the university and really well planned with lots of open land it perhaps wouldn't be so bad but they just want to cram in as much as they can."

Anne Snelgrove, Labour

"Of course Swindon should have a university. I definitely think if there is a medical faculty it should be next to the hospital, with the arts faculty in town. That means finding space for three more faculties.

"I am absolutely sure that if we put our minds to it we can square this circle.

"I don't think that all the options have been explored at the moment. I don't accept that the land near Coate has to be built on."

Sue Stebbing, Liberal Democrat

"Swindon should have a university and it most definitely should not be at Coate.

"You can fully understand why the University of Bath wants to go to Coate but I don't think they should be allowed because what would be good for them would bring huge dis-benefits to the wider community.

"It would be at the expense of thousands of people who would lose the full value of the landscape at Coate. It is too high a price to pay."

Isabel Field