THE public consultation on the plans for Town's proposed new stadium was an interesting affair.
Held in a hall so small that people queued for up to an hour to get in (a model, perhaps, for Town's new ground?) the plans revealed a lot of wishful thinking but no real thought. How will travelling fans get to the site? Ah they didn't know.
Why did the proposed bus and foot connections to the new stadium start at the bottom of Kingshill rather than the railway station? They didn't know.
How many cars had they planned for? They didn't know.
Would Swindon taxpayers end up footing any of the bill? They didn't know.
And so it went on. It was noted that the only representative from STFC disappeared early in the evening and couldn't be found.
Perhaps he'd gone to book his place in the queue for Town's first game.
Even the survey form that was supposed to gather feedback from those who finally managed to get in to the meeting forgot to ask whether the stadium should happen at all.
As a public consultation it was a disaster. As an example of the level of thinking behind Town's new home, it was frightening.
I want Town to have a new home they deserve it. But I want it to be something Swindon can be proud of, not this poorly planned shambles. We can do better, and we must.
Steve Deeley
Sandwood Close
Sparcells, Swindon
Having attended the consultation for the proposed Football Stadium at Roughmoor Social Hall, I am even more concerned at the details revealed.
For example, there will only be 1,300 parking spaces provided for the 22,000-seater stadium.
Apparently the council does not allow any more than one parking space per 15 seats. It is clear that the remainder of visitors will be parking in our streets.
Furthermore, representatives from Halcrow freely admitted that property values will go down, and confessed that placing the stadium in a residential areas is a bad idea, and that they would not want to live near it.
Clare Bateman
Sparcells Drive
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