Shaw Forest Country Park:
a disaster waiting to happen

by Professor Brian Toft BA (Hons), Dip Comp Sci (Cantab), PhD, MInstD, FIIRSM, FIOSH, FIRM, Hon FICDDS
Like many of the inhabitants of West Swindon I realise that Swindon Town FC needs a new modern home and that the building of new leisure and sports facilities would be advantageous to the people of this town. Furthermore, the support for such an initiative by some of Swindon Borough Councillors is understandable.(1)

However, a brief desktop exercise of the risks involved in the proposed development on the Forest Country Park reveals that their enthusiasm for the project is not justified.

Here is a summary of just a few of the risks that the proposed project is exposed to.


Contaminated Land

The site has been used for landfill since the 1960's and will have received a variety of wastes. For example, Mr Kane who was the Superintendent of the Barnfield Road Incinerator Plant has stated: 'From 1975 - 1991 I worked at Barnfield Road incinerator plant. During this time I was responsible for sending toxic wastes to Shaw Tip. One of these toxic waste materials was large quantities of blue asbestos from the town's decommissioned railway works.' (2)

On the other hand Mr Short, Director, Swindon Contractors and Recreation Services, claims that: 'In the late seventies the site was filled with domestic refuse but has since had thorough investigations, bore holes and samples taken.' (3)

Unfortunately there is no documentary evidence to support either assertion, as the records detailing the types of waste that were buried at the Shaw Forest Country Park site are missing. (4) However, as Mr Kane observes: 'Mr Short can have no idea of what is on the site because he wasn't there in my day and he doesn't have records to prove it - you can't second guess these things.' (5)

It is accepted in academic research 'that people can and do comment on their experiences, and that these commentaries are acceptable as scientific data.'(6)

Thus, it can be argued that since Mr Kane had practical experience of working with the waste materials that were transported to the Shaw Forest Country Park site and Mr Short did not, it is Mr Kane's view that should direct Swindon Borough Council's actions.

Furthermore, my understanding is that the Shaw Forest Country Park site generates methane gas and water contaminated with the contents of what was originally tipped there.

At present these two by-products are closely monitored and the site is deemed to be safe.(7)

However, if the site was to be subject to construction activity then conditions may be created that would allow the methane and the contaminated drainage water to affect near-by residential properties, their inhabitants and the local fauna and flora.

Perhaps even more worrying is the thought that if a pocket of methane gas were to form in a residence, the stadium or a leisure park building and ignite the results could be catastrophic.


Conservation and Biodiversity

The area is also part of the Great Western Community Forest and during the past ten years it has been planted with thousands of trees. Notwithstanding the fact that Matt Prior, Conservation Officer, Wiltshire Ornithological Society reports:

'The River Ray corridor is one of the few places in Swindon where wildlife flourishes'. The area in question is the second best area in the whole of Wiltshire for the secretive grasshopper warbler, barn owls hunt the rough grassland and well over 150 species of bird have been recorded. It is also crucial to the survival of the red listed reed bunting in north Wiltshire. The area on top of the old landfill site supports a good number of snipe and in recent years internationally important numbers of the scarce jack snipe. 'In addition to birds, otters are now resident and there are harvest mice, water shrews, water voles and at least three species of bat. The area also has a large population of the EU protected great crested newt.'(8)

Even to think about building on this site and risk destroying such a rich habitat raises serious doubts as to the Council's publicly espoused commitment to environmental issues.(9)


Traffic

There are numerous other risks that also need to be considered with regard to the proposed project such as other new developments that are taking place in West Swindon and the combined impact, for example, on the road network. Even some of the football fans, who so ardently want and deserve a new home, do not appear to want the solution that has been put before them. One fan Terry Offen rightly points out that the current proposal is ludicrous given there are at least: 'Two options, one; a prestigious site next to a major trunk road or motorway giving easy access and a good impression of the town, or two; a site on an old tip within 'smelling' distance of the sewage works only accessible by local commuter roads. So, they [Swindon Borough Council] pick option two.(10)


Managing Harmful Effects

Given the above, Swindon Borough Council should adopt the 'Precautionary Principle' with regard to the proposed Shaw Forest Country Park development. This is the approach that the Health and Safety Executive advise should be used when: 'There is good reason to believe that harmful effects may occur to human, animal or plant health or to the environment;' and 'The level of scientific uncertainty about the consequences or likelihood of the risk is such that the best available scientific advice cannot assess the risk with sufficient confidence to inform decision-making.'(11)

Such a situation clearly exists with regard to the current proposals for the Shaw Forest Country Park development and by invoking the precautionary principle it will shift: 'The burden of proof in demonstrating presence of risk or degree of safety towards the hazard creator. The presumption should be that the hazard creator should provide, as a minimum, the information needed for decision-making.'(12)

Thus, St. Modwen Properties plc should have to provide compelling evidence that any construction activity at Shaw Forest Country Park would not prove to be injurious to the residents and the environment. Particularly, as the liability for any injury or damage caused by the hazards discussed above is highly likely to remain with Swindon Borough Council and therefore if compensation or other additional costs have to paid out it will be the residents, as local taxpayers, that will bear the financial burden and not the developer.

I believe it is clear that the proposed St. Modwen Properties plc project at Shaw Forest Country Park is fatally flawed and should be consigned to where it belongs - the dustbin!


References

1 - 'Plans for stadium unveiled today', Swindon Evening Advertiser (SEA-22 March 2004)
2 - Kane, K 'The deadly waste buried at the tip', (SEA-22 October 2002)
3 - Short, JF 'We're proud of this former landfill site', (SEA-28 September 2000)
4 - 'Records of toxic waste are missing', (SEA-10 August 2002)
5 - 'Records of toxic waste are missing', (SEA-10 August 2002)
6 - Brown, J. and Sime, (1981), J.A. A Methodology for Accounts in Social Method and Social Life, (ed. M. Brenner), Academic Press, London.
7 - Short, J. F, 'We're proud of this former landfill site', (SEA-28 September 2000)
8 - Prior, M 'Stadium would be a disaster for wildlife, (SEA-7 April 2004)
9 - January 2001. Wiltshire Structure Plan 2011: A joint Replacement Structure Plan covering the Administrative Areas of Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire County Council, Adopted Explanatory Memorandum & Written Statement, Wiltshire County Council, Trowbridge.
10 - Offen, T (25 March 2004), 'Same old Swindon.' This is Swindon Town F.C, website: www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/fans_postbag_story.asp?newsid=282
11 & 12 - Heath and Safety Executive, website: www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/ilgra/pppa.htm#1

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