Political Reaction

Labour

Julia Drown, MP for Swindon South - 7 April 2004

I am keen to see Swindon Town do well. I have a real fondness for the County Ground and so would be sorry to see the Club move on from there but I can see the positive side of a new stadium for the Town.

I was surprised to see the proposal for Shaw as I'd always thought of the land there as the community forest which I've also supported - I remember like so many people do, planting trees there in the cold.

The planning decisions will of course be for the councillors to take so I am urging residents to make sure their local councillors know their views as I think it is important that local people get heard in these debates.



Michael Wills, MP for North Swindon - 17 April 2004

I am in favour of Swindon Town Football Club securing a new stadium and I am sure the town as a whole would benefit from it. However I have not seen any evidence yet that is critical to the creation of such a new stadium to build it on the site that is currently proposed.

I should therefore like to see a further exploration by the council of other possible sites for a new stadium. The project itself looks exciting: it would be very sad if by choosing to build it in the wrong place, another community amenity and local goodwill is lost.

I am also aware of the concerns people have about the amount of traffic that may be generated in the area if the scheme goes ahead. This could potentially be a serious problem, and I am keen to ensure that this is monitored if the stadium is built as proposed, and schemes are introduced to manage traffic flow and minimise disruption to those living in the vicinity of the new facilities.



From the Government Office of the South West on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister - 27 April 2004

Mike Hale
The Planning Team
Government Office of the South West
1st Floor, 2 Rivergate
Temple Quay, BRISTOL BS1 6ED


27 April 2004


Dear Mr Marsden

PROPOSED STADIUM AND COMMUNITY SPORTS FACILITY AT THE SHAW TIP SITE, WEST SWINDON
Thank you for your recent letter concerning the above proposals. I have been asked to reply and should explain that this office deals with planning matters in Swindon on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister.

I can confirm that as yet there is no specific application before Swindon Borough Council although I understand they await them with interest. I should also explain in general terms that it has been the policy of successive Governments that day-to-day planning functions, such as determining planning applications and enforcing planning legislation, are matters best carried out by democratically elected and accountable local authorities. The First Secretary of State could only intervene by calling in the planning application for his own determination. However, you should know that if the Secretary of State chooses to determine an application himself, such a decision is not based on whether that application should be granted planning permission, but whether the issues raised by a proposal are such that it would be more appropriately considered by the First Secretary of State rather than the local planning authority. Although each case is considered on its individual merits, applications are, in general, only called in where issues of more than local importance are involved.

It is possible that such proposals may come before the First Secretary of State for his consideration in the future, for example if the application is called-in or as an appeal against the Council's decision to refuse planning permission. Unfortunately, this therefore prevents me from commenting on the proposals that concern you.

In these circumstances I can only suggest that you make your views known to Swindon Borough Council although you may choose to await the submission of a planning application before doing so. I am sorry that I cannot offer you a more favourable reply although I hope the information included is helpful.



Liberal Democrats

An initial response with the Liberal Democrats
From: Mike Evemy, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Swindon Borough Council


Dear Tim

Thanks for your email.

Can I ask why you state that the Liberal Democrats in Swindon are in favour of the stadium development proposal?

The Liberal Democrat Group has not discussed this proposal and we therefore do not have a collective view until we have done so.

Regards

Mike Evemy


----- Original Message -----

From: Tim Marsden

Dear Councillor Evemy

I was very disturbed to hear that the Liberal Democrats in Swindon is in favour of the proposed development of:

- 23,000 capacity football stadium
- dog track
- speedway stadium
- cricket ground
- rugby ground
- two hotels
- Olympic sized swimming baths.

If you wish to get an idea of what is proposed you can view the Swindon Link web-site at http://www.swindonlink.com/

This development must be the subject of a full environmental assessment. I understand that there is European legislation that demands that this process to be undertaken.

The access to the site will be totally inadequate. The site itself is an old tip that contains uncatalogued waste from the old railway engineering works. The development of the site will destroy the woodland that has been planted on the site and, with it, its accompanying wildlife.

The borough council will face huge bills should anything nasty be contained within the tip. The whole of West Swindon will come to even more of a grinding halt every time there's a football match, greyhound meeting, speedway meeting or a rock concert. The high ground on which the site is located will ensure a maximum disturbance from noise and floodlights.

In any event the council tax payers of Swindon will face higher taxes to finance the development of Swindon Town Football Club.



Caroline Jackson, Member of the European Parliament

Dear Mr Marsden,

Thank you for your email about the proposed stadium development in West Swindon.

I agree with you that a development of this type should fall within the criteria that requires full environmental impact assessment as part of the planning process. I do however, have to point out to you that even if such an environmental impact assessment is adverse it does not necessarily determine the outcome of the final planning process. It is simply part of the evidence that the planners have to consider. 

I will contact Swindon Council to put the view forward that an environmental impact assessment should be required on this particular development.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Jackson MEP

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Swindon Councillors


Councillor Andy Harrison, Labour, Penhill

Having attended the recent presentation given to members of Swindon Borough Council by St. Modwen Properties and STFC, I must admit that I was impressed with their plans for a new sports stadium and supporting facilities. Clearly the intention was to sell the idea of what could be achieved on this brownfield site to the benefit of the whole of Swindon.

Here I must, as I did at the presentation, declare an interest. I dislike football. I am however able to take a more holistic view to such matters, and can see the benefits that such a modern stadium would bring to Swindon. Representing one of the most deprived wards in Swindon, I would welcome such an investment, which would have natural benefits for the youth of my ward.

Fortunately I am not so easily persuaded and, after short consideration, I decided I would not be supporting any development on this site.

My reasons are simple and straight forward. This is community forest, to develop it would be a betrayal not only to those who worked to create it but, and more importantly, a betrayal of the flora and wildlife that now inhabit that area.



Jim D'Avila, Councillor for Moredon Ward.
The Labour Party Group Spokesman for Cultural Change - 22 April 2004

I have thought long and hard about the recently publicised proposals to relocate Swindon Town FC from the County Ground to the Shaw Forest Country Park next to the homes at Sparcells, Peatmoor, Shaw and Nine Elms.

There can be no doubting that these plans to relocate the football club in a new stadium within a purposely built "sports village" are attractive and will generate much excitement from football and sports fans alike. As someone that would wish to see STFC given the facilities to play in a modern stadium fit for the twenty-first century I too have been very tempted to lend these proposals my support.

However I believe that there is a responsibility on locally elected councillors to put aside their personal agendas and place the interests of the wider community at the forefront. While I want to see a new modern home for Swindon Town FC I have concluded that it would be a betrayal to the local residents of the West Swindon/Sparcells area if the present proposals for the new stadium and sports village were to win Swindon Council approval.

Like the local residents who have painstakingly planted some 46,000 trees on the reclaimed site that is now Shaw Forest Country Park I too can not understand how the Tory Leader of the Council can give his approval to this potential environmental U-turn by appearing with the developers and the football club at the launch last month. Mike Bawden didn't even have the courtesy to consult those councillors on whose patch this development is planned. No wonder his conservative colleagues Nick Martin, Garry Perkins and Doug Steward were furious with this dismissive action from the Leader of the Council.

We now have the sad spectrum of the controlling conservative group on the Council publicly at odds with each other over proposals that are in contradiction to its own "Structure Plan," while Swindon residents look on in despair.

Past plans a few years ago to relocate the Swindon Town FC on a new purpose built stadium did have the support of all Swindon Councillors because the proposed site near to Junction 16 on the M4 made good planning and community sense.

For the football club's new proposals to succeed they must have the full support of the Council who as both "Land Owner" and Planning Authority will be crucial in determining any future planning application. By transferring the current problems that are associated with the present "in town" County Ground location to a different "in town" location does the Council no credit whatsoever?

Whilst the detail proposals for a new stadium and a sports village may be seductively attractive, I would urge my fellow councillors to recognise that development of any description on the Shaw Forest Country Park would be an environmental U-turn too far and would be a betrayal of the trust of the people whose interests we were elected to represent.



Councillor Barrie Thompson, Labour, Parks Ward - 04 May 2004

This is my personal view.

I am opposed to the stadium on the site proposed as I see no point in moving the stadium from one residential urban area to another with all the consequential problems of traffic congestion. I have made my views known to the Leader of the Council, and also to the Shadow Cabinet - I am opposed to the site whilst fully in favour of the provision of a new stadium.

I was in favour of the original site at Junction 16 and would hope that we could revert to that site, if not then it should be a similar site on either the M4 or A419.

We also need to retain green open areas within the urban environment because Swindon over the next 50 years is going to increase substantially in size. Anybody who thinks they can stop the growth is not living in the real world.

The Victorians recognised this when they were expanding towns and cities in their time because of the expanding population just look at the large parks and open spaces in London, Birmingham and all major cities in the UK. We must therefore not build on every piece of so-called brown field space.



Councillor Judith Peppitt, Liberal Democrat, Freshbrook & Grange Park - 11 May 2004

I would like to comment as a West Swindon Councillor and Lib Dem candidate for Toothill and Westlea.

I welcome the public consultation that the developers are carrying out and I encourage residents to make their views known. As landowner of both the County Ground and the former Shaw Tip site, the Council is obliged to consider any proposals developers may place before it.

A decision of the Council's Tory-run Cabinet, which includes two councillors from the most affected ward - Shaw and Nine Elms, will be required before any negotiations can take place. This is a very important point to note.

Swindon Council's decision making Cabinet is run by the Conservative Group. Once the Conservative Leader, Cllr Mike Bawden made the decision to consult with developers over this re-siting of the football ground, he set in motion a change to the Council's existing policy to keep the Shaw Forest as a forest.

At this early stage I am not in favour of this new stadium proposal and would not support it. I know many families in West Swindon who have planted trees at our local Shaw Forest in memory of family members. To desecrate this forest would disgust me, and is a betrayal to all of us in Swindon.

You should note that building the new hospital on green-field land at Commonhead and the proposal to build houses on the land between the M4 and Old Town (known locally as the Front Garden), were all decisions supported by the majority of Conservative councillors (all five West Swindon Tories voted in favour of destroying these "green-field sites").

In both instances the Liberal Democrats opposed these developments, as once the facts are weighed up - developing these Greenfield sites were contrary to local plans and against common sense. You should also note that proposals to build a new University at Coate Water is also against the Councils structure plans for Swindon... but once again it is the Conservative Group who have pushed this proposal onto the drawing board! We favour plans agreed in the mid 1990's that a new University campus should be build at North Star in place of the old college and other land owned by the Council.

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