North Swindon Development Company presented Swindon police with a Honda HRV on 18 October for use by Abbey Meads beat officer PC Dennis Taylor who is extending his area to take in the new Priory Vale development. Pictured with Dennis in the vehicle, from left, Paul Springgay, Trench Farrow consulting engineers, Angie Clark, Westbury Homes, David Thompson, director, North Swindon Development Comapny, Wiltshire Police divisional commander Ian Maidment, Inspector Bob Markham, community safety

With the opening of the £12 million Northern Orbital Road/Thamesdown Drive extension by the Mayor of Swindon councillor David Cox on 22 November, the scene is set for the arrival of the first people at Priory Vale, a new development that is likely to set national standards in urban development.

Although Priory Vale, to the north of Haydon Wick, Woodhall Park and Taw Hill, will contain some 5,500 houses, only 390 acres of its 640 acres will be for residential use. Forty five acres have been allowed for the development of schools and sports pitches, and 16 acres of meadowland is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). An impressive 82 acres will be open space providing wildlife corridors across the development.

New government planning guidelines set out in the urban design document Better Places to Live calls for house builders and local authorities to take a new approach in the way areas are developed. According to Swindon Borough Council senior planner Martin Trewhella, Priory Vale is going to look quite different to anything to be found in Swindon.

"Better Places to Live is a challenge to be innovative in the way roads are laid out and the type of architecture employed. Street scenes will be more interesting and there will be more landmark buildings at key points to give a different feel to the development."

Priory Vale will have three distinct 'character areas' to reflect the urban nature of the development and also its closeness to surrounding countryside. An urban core area will have mostly terraced and three storey buildings, typical of town living. The commercial centre will be different to those found in West Swindon and Abbey Meads. Taking on the appearance of small country towns such as Cricklade, shops, offices and community buildings such as the church will be interspersed with houses. A second area will be more formal in its design, with larger homes arranged in a symmetrical fashion along long boulevards. The third area will have a semi-rural appearance, where houses will be built less densely and will be arranged around open spaces, as in a village.

The first homes will be ready for occupation in the Spring. Major land holder Crest Nicholson has already broken ground on site in an area called Braydon Mead. An unusual feature will be a mill house, to be used initially as the Crest's marketing suite which is due to open in April. Sixteenth century in appearance, complete with water wheel and approach over a bridge, the interior will be contemporary. The surrounding streets will include four show homes, typical of the planned development.

Also featured is a village square, or centre, which will provide for everyday shopping needs. The design will promote a feeling of community like that of a traditional village. Ultimately, the mill house will be converted into apartments. Other developers include Wimpey, Westbury, Bryant Taywood, McLeans, and locally based company J S Bloor.

The Northern Orbital Road/Thamesdown Drive extension provides access to all parts of the development. The finished community is likely to be ten years in the making. During this time, developers hope to give Priory Vale a true sense of place in Swindon.

Paul Springgay, Priory Vale project manager believes the area will become nationally recognised for the quality of design. "The commitment shown by the North Swindon Development Company, and Swindon Borough Council to Better Places to Live will make Priory Vale a landmark project for innovative urban design and community living and could be regarded as a benchmark for the future design of large urban expansion projects."

Swindon runs out of roundabouts as new road opens past UKs second largest store

Started in October last year, the four-kilometre stretch of dual carriageway built by Edmund Nuttalls for the North Swindon Development Company boasts twelve signal-controlled junctions, with not one roundabout in sight. At some point in the future, the NOR will stretch from the Great Western Way to Cricklade Road, linking the M4 and the A419.

Immediately the NOR will provide access for the huge number of shoppers expected to drive to the Asda-Walmart store which opens on 26 November, just thirteen months after permission to proceed, the first phase of the huge development built at incredible speed opens on 26 November. The Asda Walmart Superstore selling food, household and electrical goods, covers 150,000 square feet, almost twice as big as Tesco on Ocotal Way (82,000 sq.ft.), and provides jobs for some 800 people. A second phase, to open next summer, will provide space for other major high street retail names, a 20,000 square feet garden centre, smaller shop units, banks, building societies, cafes and restaurants. When finished the North Swindon Centre will cover 360,000 square feet of retail space, equal to the size of Greenbridge Park. A library, a health centre and a private fitness club are also being built at the centre.

In November last year Asda Senior Development Surveyor, Mark Turner, wrote in swindonlink that the company was delighted to be coming to Swindon, generating new jobs, and delivering the low prices that Asda has become famous for. However businesses across Swindon await the arrival of Walmart with some trepidation. One of Swindon's biggest retailers, which has invested in major expansion, estimates that it will lose at least eight per cent of its turnover to the new store. And The Link has been told it could take up to five years for shops in the town centre to regain sales lost to Walmart.

Jean Saunders of Swindon Friends of the Earth also wrote at swindonlink.com last November that businesses in small towns like Faringdon, Lechlade, Cirencester and Wootton Bassett are going to be seriously affected by the loss of trade. She also pointed out the environmental harm from the increased number of car journeys to Walmart.

In the run up to Christmas, there could be major car park problems. By today's planning laws, it is unlikely that a development as large as the North Swindon district centre could have been built.

In 1989 Swindon Council (then Thamesdown) objected to town expansion in the north. However, after a planning enquiry, the Government permitted the growth of the town by another 10,000 homes, including the North Swindon District Centre, without any survey of the environmental impact.

Present planning standards would restrict the district centre to a large supermarket, not something the size of Greenbridge. But reversing a past planning decision would have been very expensive.

Interestingly, new car parking planning guidelines have been imposed and the Asda Walmart will have 1,900 car parking spaces - twenty per cent fewer than when the centre was originally planned. Asda Walmart have had to agree with Swindon Council to implement a 'green travel plan' so that staff are encouraged to travel to work by bus.

A requirement of Swindon planners for the NOR has been to minimise environmental impact by protecting mature trees, retaining hedgerows wherever possible, and creating more landscaped areas. Noise is also an environmental issue and the road surface of the NOR is finished in stone mastic asphalt. Although more expensive than traditional surfacing, this material has been proven to significantly decrease the sound of traffic. Experts indicate a reduction of as much as three to four decibels is a current norm. Acoustic barriers, priority cycle paths and public transport lanes are also featured.

Wildlife needs have been addressed with the erection of badger fencing and newt barriers at strategic points, and a special route for mammals and newts under Haydon End Farm stream.

"The Northern Orbital Road is a major new capital asset for Swindon," said Priory Vale project manager Paul Springgay. "It will not only provide the infrastructure for further development in the northern expansion area, but also significantly relieve the congestion both in northern Swindon, and the currently creaking road system into and around Swindon centre."

However David Smith, who lives on Shaw Ridge, in West Swindon believes the NOR could create an increase in heavy goods traffic using Akers Way and greater dangers to pedestrians. "The new road is creating a by-pass around the west and north of the town," said Dave. "The cars taking people to and from Walmart from all points in the south and south west via junction 16 of the M4 is going to create traffic jams along Mead Way and Great Western Way through West Swindon. But Akers Way will now become an easy and more convenient route for HGV drivers out of Cheney Manor industrial estate to get to the A419, avoiding the Great Western Way to Gorse Hill and up Cricklade Road.

"There are two primary schools along there and youngsters attending Hreod Parkway don't always use the pedestrian bridge that people campaigned for in the 1980s. I really am worried that we will see more casualties."

Swindon Council transport planner Steve Hunter said that Akers Way would be kept under review. He commented that traffic will only be reduced on Westfield Way in the short term as through traffic transfers to the NOR. However, although the North Swindon District Centre will be served by up to 20 buses an hour, the number of cars from Haydon Wick and other parts of Swindon passing along Westfield Way is likely to be high. To minimise problems for Haydon Wick residents, a weight limit on Westfield Way to the south of Asda Wal-Mart will prevent HGV deliveries through the area.

Thamesdown Drive dualling to A419

Having completed the NOR between Lady Lane and Moredon Road, civil engineering firm Nuttalls have been appointed to undertake a forty week contract to dual the already built section between Lady Lane and the Cricklade Road/A419.

The three existing roundabouts will be replaced by traffic light controlled junctions. At junction 1, where Thamesdown Drive meets Cricklade Road and the A419, a highly sophisticated traffic management system will be used to filter vehicles.

Canal bridge and underpass opens up new leisure routes

Henry Smith of the canal trust with Kirk Goodchild, left, structure agent for Nuttalls and John Prothero, Nuttalls NOR site manager

On 10 December the Mayor of Swindon coun David Cox unveils a major new project which harks back over 170 years when he officially opens the bridge over a footpath and cycle way at Moredon Road which will also become a route for the restored North Wilts canal.

Swindon Council principal landscape architect Russell Weymouth said the building of the NOR/Thamesdown Drive extension provided an opportunity to create major foot and cycle connections between the River Ray Parkway along the Old Town railway path to routes from West Swindon to the proposed Moulden Hill country park near Taw Hill, and into the North Swindon pedestrian and cycle network.

Henry Smith, secretary of the Swindon branch of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust, said the bridge is the first new structure on the North Wilts Canal since it opened in 1819 and congratulated Swindon Council for taking the opportunity. "It was a fantastic effort to negotiate funding from the North Swindon Development Company. The culvert under the road will allow us to achieve a long held dream of restoring the canal from the Severn and Thames to the Kennet and Avon."