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Not all rosy in the Front Garden as housing plan is shelved

7:00am Tuesday 16th September 2008 in News Photograph of the Author By Jeremy Grimaldi

Not all rosy in the Front Garden as housing plan is shelved Not all rosy in the Front Garden as housing plan is shelved

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build thousands of homes on Swindon’s Front Garden has been shelved due to the tough economic times.

The announcement came after Swindon Council admitted its hopes to pick a developer to build 4,500 homes in Wichelstowe from a list of four companies, chosen earlier this year, will not go ahead this summer as they had hoped.

However, plans to build some 200 low-cost homes on the 460-acre site will go ahead as planned.

Councillor Peter Greenhalgh, (Con, Freshbrook and Grange Park), cabinet member for highways, transport and strategic planning, said no land would be transferred until the economic outlook improves.

He said: “Bearing in mind the present market conditions we have slowed things down.

“It is very much a case of cooling things down, seeing what happens and maintaining contact with those interested.

“As far as I am aware plans for the Wichelstowe will not be cancelled.”

Terry King, chairman of the Front Garden Action Group which is fighting the plans, said the plan was silly from the beginning.

He said: “We are rather pleased that they have run into trouble.

“This development was to be built next to a flood plain which is always flooding, the whole area is a flood risk.

“It was to be put near a motorway and an area where trains pass every two minutes.

“It will also disrupt wildlife, it has already chased away a herd of deer and lapwings.

“However, I don’t doubt that it will go ahead – they have already spent millions on the sewers and the roads.”

Councillor Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town) said that he was not surprised by the development as people in the building industry have been telling him that companies are simply refusing to sign deals at the moment.

He said: “I am not the slightest bit surprised, developers don’t want to enter into any agreements.

“In the original plans we had hoped to chose a developer this summer but that keeps getting pushed back.

“But I don’t think this is peculiar, it is not unusual to others across the country.”

Comments(12)

sharpblue says...
7:14am Tue 16 Sep 08

I am kind of glad really. All that protesting about building these homes on the front garden, which I believe is a flood plain too, seems to have come to fruition... all be it in a ironic way.

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PeeGee says...
7:42am Tue 16 Sep 08

This is only delaying the inevitable. The article is correct. Housebuilders are delaying schemes all over the country until the market improves. The only serious building happening at present is social housing. This is because it is a guaranteed sale for the construction company (as is happening at Witchelstow). Don't belive that this is the end of the matter.

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P3 NAS Mark II says...
8:00am Tue 16 Sep 08

Since when was Wichelstowe social housing?

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Bobfm says...
8:34am Tue 16 Sep 08

P3 NAS Mark II, a percentage of all new developments have to be social housing. These houses will be already sold to a housing association for rental. The problem of course doing it this way is that once the social housing is bedded in, and in the likely event it becomes sub-standard very quickly then no one will want to buy the non social housing when it is built.

I wonder if this decision has anything to do with the fact that the Modus Development and the Muse one to be announced contains provision for houses and flats.

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P3 NAS Mark II says...
8:52am Tue 16 Sep 08

I know a percentage have to be, but the poster I was asking seemed to infer that it was all social housing.


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Al Smith says...
8:57am Tue 16 Sep 08

No surprise as last time I was down Mill Lane in July/August there seemed to be no sign at all of any work going on at Wichelstowe.

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Even Angrier Monkey says...
11:09am Tue 16 Sep 08

sharpblue wrote:
I am kind of glad really. All that protesting about building these homes on the front garden, which I believe is a flood plain too, seems to have come to fruition... all be it in a ironic way.
No really. They've been postponed not cancelled and for completley different reasons to that of teh protests

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yeti says...
12:57pm Tue 16 Sep 08

if it's a flood plain then what is broome manor,wroughton,crof
t,blagrove etc,etc????

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yiddo says...
3:42pm Tue 16 Sep 08

Al Smith wrote:
No surprise as last time I was down Mill Lane in July/August there seemed to be no sign at all of any work going on at Wichelstowe.
You could'nt have been looking very hard then,look from bottom of Croft Hill

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PeeGee says...
9:09pm Tue 16 Sep 08

P3 NAS Mark II wrote:
I know a percentage have to be, but the poster I was asking seemed to infer that it was all social housing.
P3 Nas, if you mean me, no I didn't say that. Many sites are continuing building but only the social aspect as they are a guaranteed sale (although housing associations are getting smart and haggling prices now). Generally, HA properties are tucked away at the back of developments (builders don't want "that sort" fronting their developments, do they?! So, the infrastructure will have to go in to serve them through the site. Therefore, the rest of the development will inevitably follow in time. Hope that's clearer.

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komadori says...
10:58pm Tue 16 Sep 08

I think I'm right in saying that the selection of a developer that this announcement refers to is for Middle and West Wichel only. The East Wichel area was sold to developers ages ago. So when development goes ahead at the end nearest Croft Road is already out of the council's control.

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I Too says...
5:07pm Wed 17 Sep 08

No Surprise that Mike "The Broker" Bawden is the spokesman, representing developers, in this story ???

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