TOWN planners have unveiled their new vision for the shape of the town in years to come.

The re-drafting of the Swindon Core Strategy by Swindon Council has been drawn up and is set to go before full council on Thursday.

The new Core Strategy, entitled One Swindon, is to replace the 2006 version which allocated the development of 36,000 new homes around Swindon by 2026 in line with targets set by the Regional Spatial Strategy.

The new document suggests reducing the number of houses to be built by 2026 from 37,200 to 25,000.

With 6,050 of these completed between 2006 and last year the requirement for new homes would stand at 18,950.

Since Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles scrapped the RSS last year Swindon planners have reviewed the targets set by the Labour Government.

Coun Peter Greenhalgh, the cabinet member for sustainability, strategic planning, property and transport, hailed the new plan, which would go for public consultation if it passes through council, as “economically sustainable.”

“This is a sustainable, economic-led development that I think is much improved on the previous plan,” he said.

To achieve the proposed target housebuilding would need to remain at 1,200 a year, which has been the average in the borough for the last 30 years.

But planners have decided to phase development and maintain an 850-dwelling average between 2011 and 2016, rising to 1,385 per year between 2016 to 2026.

Coun Greenhalgh said: “We have significant challenges, such as accommodating schools, managing our transport network and health services. We need to deal with these before anything can be done.

“The approach with this was very different – we looked at economic factors rather than a top-down numbers approach. It’s a fresh way of looking at it.”