Battle lines are drawn at Coate

UNSPOILT farmland near Coate looks likely to be the next site for house-building in Swindon.

Outrage has greeted news of the plans which could see up to 1,800 homes and a new campus for the University of Bath built between the reservoir and the Great Western Hospital.

Two plans are under consultation at the moment the local plan and the structure plan both include fields bounded by the reservoir, the M4 and the A419 as land that could be built on.

Neither are finalised documents, but residents and environmental campaigners are furious that Coate is mentioned in both as a possibility for a new university campus and up to 1,800 homes.

Coate is now the preferred place for a university campus and will be used for homes if the council needs to free up land to meet its targets for house building up to 2011.

The building would take place on farmland and would not touch the water or the nature reserve to the west of the reservoir.

The plans have caused outrage but Swindon Council says its hands are tied by the Government's demands.

Friends of the Earth spokesman Jean Saunders said: "We absolutely abhor the idea. When planning permission was given for the hospital we were assured it would not set a precedent.

"Everyone is aware of how sensitive this area is. Environmentally it is near a nature reserve and historically it has always been treasured.

"We are gobsmacked by the concept of using this place for a university campus and for housing."

Eddie Bedwell, of Abbey Meads, who has launched a lobbying campaign called Stop Swindon Exploding, said: "There is so much incomplete development around Swindon already the northern area is not complete, the Front Garden is behind schedule and now there are plans for the other side of the A419.

"Here they are talking about development creeping into a prime countryside site that should never be built on."

The plans have also caused upset in nearby Chiseldon. Vice chairman of the parish council Chris Barry said: "This is a particularly special place for Swindon and it is near a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

"There are concerns because the modifications to the structure plan are so extensive. But most people in Chiseldon are not of aware of this."

Coun Barry said that the parish council would be objecting in writing about the two plans. He said that it would be better to build any new university campus as part of the Earlsgate site on the other side of the A419, which is scheduled to take 3,500 new homes.

But councillors and planning officers say that they have little control of how many homes the borough has to take, because it is controlled by central Government.

Swindon Council's planning committee vice-chairman Maurice Fanning said: "We don't have much impact or choice on the numbers which are determined as the figures needed for Swindon. Those are a Government imperative.

"We consider that the local plan and structure plan will show the best way forward.

"We can't say we don't want any more. If you are looking to sustain the economy you have to provide new places to live and new employment areas."

Swindon Council's team leader for strategic policy Mark Newey said: "We have done studies for the structure plan and a principal urban study and the results are that the Coate area would be the most sustainable extension to Swindon.

"The local plan review has found that if there is a shortfall in housing, the local plan should suggest it goes on Coate.

"But this is not a planning application, and a new campus has not been agreed.

"Nothing is pre-determined. We look at things purely in planning terms.

"We have to constantly review sites because issues change.

"Because this is planning policy we would ask people to look at it in planning terms, but it is the start of the policy, not the end."

Any plans for the university campus or the homes would have to go through planning committees in the same way as any other application.