£350m vision wins approval

A meeting of Swindon's most powerful people took place at the Civic Offices, where business chiefs had their first opportunity to look at the plans in detail.

A presentation was given yesterday by project director Wendy Shillam, a partner of urban planners Shillam and Smith.

Afterwards, she was joined by Swindon Council chief executive Paul Doherty in answering questions from the 40 or more company bosses who attended.

And while many had constructive criticism for elements of the 30-year scheme, the overall feeling was one of optimism and excitement.

The blueprint projects a vision of the how the town could look in 30 years, although afterwards Mr Doherty said that if the will was there, most of it was achievable within 10 years.

The plans include a completely revamped town centre linked via a modern tram system to a science and education park at North Star and a revitalised Old Town.

There would be a new library, gallery, cinema and rebuilt Oasis leisure centre, and Fleming Way would be lowered to become a European-style boulevard.

Peter Miller, development director for Westfield Shoppingtowns Ltd, which recently bought a 50 per cent share in the Brunel Centre, said his firm was eager to inject substantial investment into the project.

"We're very encouraged by the council's commitment to reinforce its already strong performance economically, and we want to be a major part of this scheme," he said.

Bob Owen, chief executive of the Swindon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "We are very encouraged by these innovative proposals. I look forward with relish to future consultations on this it is the start of a great debate."

At the presentation, Mrs Shillam said people in the town needed to change their "mental map" of the boundaries of the town centre.

"We're not settling for half-measures here our sights are set on much bigger than that. We're not interested in being better than Read-ing or Bath, we want to compete for shoppers with New York and Milan."

Both the University of Bath and Swindon College have given their whole-hearted support to the vision, which would see both campuses located in a 'knowledge quarter' in a new urban park at North Star.

Professor David VandeLinde, vice-chancellor of the university, said: "We are delighted to be part of the vision to develop a new town centre. This encourages us to move forward to create a campus in Swindon which has the potential to be truly international."

College principal Mike Hopkins said: "These proposals represent a wonderful opportunity for the town to develop world class facilities for education and training."

Town centre manager Bernie Maguire said: "I'm very impressed the framework is there and it is a huge step forward. It will take an awful lot for us to compete with the likes of Milan, but we can certainly compete with the major cities in this country."

There were concerns raised, however, that the Churchward area and Old Town were not playing a big enough role in the scheme.

Jeremy Baker, development director for Carillion, which owns much of the commercial land around the Great Western Designer Outlet Village, said he felt Church-ward had been sidelined by the planners.

And Richard Deacon, chairman of the Old Town Professional and Business Association, said: "Old Town has got a wider role to play in attracting people into Swindon and I'm not sure this report represents the opportunity that exists."

Other firms in Swindon were more approving.

Tony Gallagher, vice president of Cheney Manor-based electronics firm Mitel Semiconductor, said the scheme would go a long way towards correcting the skills shortage facing Swindon's engineering sector.

His comments were echoed by John Cullum, president of Windmill Hill-based vehicle management firm PHH.

"Engaging the business sector is critical to the whole viability of this vision, as it centres around attracting businesses to the town centre," he said.

Mr Doherty said he was pleased by the turnout and enthusiasm at the meeting.

"People now need to go away and reflect on this and we look forward to receiving the feedback. We don't want to lose the momentum and excitement of the debate."