Forest Win. Stadium plan blocked.

Four months of vigorous campaigning by West Swindon residents to remind Swindon councillors of promises made to them 10 years ago resulted in an overwhelming vote of confidence in the Great Western Community Forest at a meeting of the full council on 22 July.

All councillors in attendance, bar two who abstained, voted in favour of a motion for the council to continue its existing policy of support for the forest, including the three phases of council owned land designated as Shaw Forest Country Park, resolving that the site should be protected and retained as part of the Great Western Community Forest for future generations.

As a result, the proposal to build a 20,000 seat stadium alongside a 'sports village,' hotels, conference facilities and fast food outlets - first proposed on 19 March this year - is very unlikely to be put forward by Swindon Town Football Club, in league with developers St Modwen Properties plc.

In a rare example of cross party support the motion combined two separate proposals put forward by Conservative and Labour councillors. Introducing the motion coun Nick Martin (Conservative, Shaw and Nine Elms) told the council that the issues at stake transcended party differences. He said he was a member of the council when it voted to set up the Great Western Community Forest in 1994 and he was re-elected in June 2004 after committing himself to preserving Shaw Forest Country Park. "This is about being true to our convictions, about keeping our promises, about the council retaining and protecting its integrity.

"Phases 1 and 2 of the former landfill site now known as Shaw Forest Country Park have been capped with millions of tons of soil and planted with 50,000 trees. It is now a haven for deer, badgers, insect and plant life, a place for our children and grandchildren to enjoy in the future."

Seconding the motion coun Barrie Thompson (Labour, Parks) said, "when Thamesdown Council agreed to set up the community forest, never did it think any part of it would be built upon. This council promised Shaw Forest would be open parkland, a heritage to the 21st Century by the decision makers of the 20th Century, just like the Victorians set up urban parks in the 19th Century."

However Wendy Johnson (Libl Dem, Lawns) accused the leaders of the two main political groups on the council - former councillor Sue Bates (Labour) and present leader of the Conservative group and now leader of the council Mike Bawden of playing fast and loose with Swindon's environment by suggesting in 2002 that the football club could even consider building at Shaw Forest. "They did not have the authority to discuss the issue and should have reported the matter to the council. Residents and Swindon Town supporters have been misled and this council has not been well served."

Coun Maurice Fanning (Labour, Gorse Hill) spoke as chairman of the Great Western Community Forest, which is a consortium of local authorities and government and voluntary agencies involved in countryside and environmental development. "When people turned up in their thousands for a community tree plant in 1995 to mark Chinese New Year, in teeming rain and a quagmire underfoot, we knew that Swindon people had taken the Shaw Forest site into their ownership. Sadly today developers can look at such sites and see opportunities for exploitation.

"Because somebody thought this was a tip they thought they could get away with developing it. It is not a tip, it's part of a community forest, and this debate is about the right to roam, the opportunity to get into green areas and it's about protecting our environment. I support Swindon Town's desire for a stadium, but not in this location." 



Coun Stan Pajak (Lib Dem, Eastcott) said he did not have a problem with the motion because the council was debating existing policy. However in agreeing the debate was all about trust, he pointed out two glaring locations where the council had promised in the past not to permit development and had made U-turns - the Front Garden area which is now to have up to 4,000 homes built on it, and Coate Water, where the University of Bath wants to build a campus, next to 1,800 houses, close to the Great Western Hospital.

He said, "the main debate as to whether Shaw Forest Country Park should be developed will take place when a planning application is submitted."

Coun Derique Montaut (Labour, Moredon) agreed the debate was an issue of trust. "When Wiltshire County Council transferred the Shaw landfill site to the ownership of the borough council, they trusted it would be developed into parkland. Organisations like the Woodland Trust have invested in the community forest because of the trust they had in Swindon. And they people of Swindon had trust in the council to create what's best for their children and grandchildren.

"The Shaw Forest site is a wonderful example of developing open space close to the town centre. We want a stadium fit and worthy for the people of the town, but not at the expense of open spaces."

Nick Martin closed the debate by drawing attention to the fact that local ward councillors had not been made aware of the Swindon Town/St Modwen proposals until they had read about it in the evening paper in March. He also pointed out that the council has money in the bank to complete Phases 1 and 2 of Shaw Forest Country Park and a restitution fund for Phase 3. He called on councillors to support the motion to reaffirm its support for the forest for future generations.

Of the 40 people in the public gallery, 35 pro-forest supporters greeted the decision with loud clapping and cheers. The same could be heard from approximately 250 people in the civic office lobby who could not get in and were listening to the debate on the radio.

Swindon Forest Protection Group coordinator Alan Hayward said, "what a victory. The decision was critical not only for Shaw Forest but also other sites across the town at risk from development. This showed what people can do if they work together for a common aim.

"This is also a victory for the council. They listened to people and kept their promise. I wish Swindon Town all the best to find the right site for a stadium."

He added that if the vote had not been carried, the SFPG would have continued the opposition right through the planning process and also through the courts. "We're glad this matter has been dealt with. It was splitting the town and doing real damage to inter-community relation. If the forest or stadium debate had continued, it would have done major damage to Swindon's reputation on a national scale.

Coun Garry Perkins (Conservative, Shaw and Nine Elms) said he was pleased with the vote. "Shaw Forest Country Park has tremendous potential not just for people of West Swindon but the whole town"

However prospects for the football club look gloomy. With no financial resources to invest in a new site or to redevelop the County Ground, its future is in a parlous state. St Modwen Properties have stated they are willing to continue working with the club and the council to see if another site can be found to build a new stadium, alongside other income generating facilities like hotels, but low cost land in Swindon is non-existent. The council has made it clear that it will not make land available at less than market rates, and is probably precluded from doing so anyway.

Swindon Town director Bob Holt has been reported as saying that the club faces a bleak future and if there's no alternative land the club will ' just have to try to survive as long as we can.' He indicated the club would abandon plans to build on Shaw Forest.

Paul Davies of the Swindon Town FC supporters trust, or TrustSTFC, said he was very disappointed that the council vote had effectively blocked the submission of a formal planning application. "The club were preparing revised plans in the light of public consultations which it should have been given the right to show, and been dealt with through the planning process.

"I was surprised how some councillors who have been keen to support the club in the past have suddenly donned green clothing.

"Many fans would like to see the County Ground redeveloped, but the opportunity to create new income streams would be difficult there. We, the fans, need to go back to the council and say, if not Shaw, where now?"

Council leader Mike Bawden has indicated that the club should discuss with land owners the possibility of a stadium on the area to the east of the A419 and south of the A420, the council's preferred area of future town growth. However ideas for development there are a good 7 to 12 years off, and many planning obstacles have to be overcome.

Coun Nick Martin said he wanted to say well done and thank you to all who had supported the pro-forest campaign and the work of his fellow councillors to find a way to block the prospects of commercial development of Shaw Forest Country Park. "It was a huge effort by a large number of people. Though it looked so easy on the night, the behind the scenes activity has been extremely political and often quite painful. But as they say, 'it goes with the territory' and the West Swindon Conservative councillors had to do what was right by the people."

"The cross party lobbying of councillors by the Swindon Forest Protection Group really helped to secure the vote and motivate the Labour Group. The research and the tactical ability within the group was excellent.

"I should also like make a special mention of the importance of Swindon Link Magazine and its web site at swindonlink.com. Small and 'only a monthly' it may be, but it was the only media that did not have a football club bias. The articles were excellent and the picture library was also very useful. In lobbying councillors I buried them in articles and photographs from The Link.

"You may think it's all over, but to secure Shaw Forest for the future, I think the community and the council should be looking at setting up an independent trust to manage such areas to protect and guard against opportunistic developers in years to come."

Swindon Link publisher/editor Roger Ogle commented, "The Link magazine has been reporting the development of Shaw Forest since 1994 and has featured all three community tree planting days. There was a principle at stake here and from the outset we were going to make it clear that the integrity of Swindon was at stake.

"The campaign galvanised people across the town and particularly in West Swindon to sit up, pay attention to what was important to them, and not just give in and be bullied by property developers. They were also clear that there were not going to let the dump on a very successful policy of getting people involved in their environment.

"It's important that apathy does not take over again. Neighbours are talking to each other, people are no longer strangers to each other in their communities. People power does work."