Allotments and Oasis plans to be discussed at meeting (From Swindon Advertiser)

Allotments and Oasis plans to be discussed at meeting

10:00am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in News By David Wiles

THE OASIS transformation, plans for nearly 250 homes in Gorse Hill and the council budget are among the agenda items for tonight’s Cabinet meeting.

The meeting at the Civic Offices looks set to be the most interesting in many months, with members considering several major, and sometimes controversial, proposals.

Council leader Coun Rod Bluh said: “I think this is a big agenda, delivering nearly £100m of private investment into Swindon and delivering more than 1,000 new jobs.

“In addition we’re fighting for lower fares for Swindon, and to promote the town as a base for business.”

Kicking-off the night will be the project to turn the Oasis Leisure Centre into a regional leisure destination, featuring an hotel, indoor arena, indoor ski slope, water park and leisure and sports retail facilities.

Projections show the development, which is planned to finish by the end of 2014, could attract up to four million visitors a year from across the UK and create up to 1,700 jobs.

The council will be asked tonight to enter into a collaboration agreement with Moirai Capital Investments, a property developer specialising in leisure and entertainments, which would spend £65m refurbishing the old centre and providing the other leisure facilities.

The Cabinet will also be asked to support the budget for 2012/13, which includes plans to save about £15m to cope with £12m worth of extra costs in the next financial year – mainly due to increased demand for services – and reduced overall funding of about £3.3m.

The proposals include abolishing 120 council posts to save £3.1m, changing the way services are delivered, reducing funding to some organisations and generating more income from its facilities.

The administration proposes to use a £2.1m Government grant to keep the borough council tax charge at the same level for the next financial year – £1,130.27 for a band D property.

Perhaps the most controversial proposal is the £30m scheme with developer Haboakus to build 241 homes, including 106 affordable family homes, on the former allotment site, Pickards Small Field, and the open space known as Kembrey Grass.

The Cabinet will be asked to agree to a number of proposals, including for the council to sell the land, dependent on several conditions, including the granting of planning consent, and £1m of funding from the Homes And Communities Agency.

Hundreds of residents were urged at a public meeting in Gorse Hill on Thursday to attend tonight’s meeting to show their opposition to the plans.

The Cabinet will also discuss a proposal to lay on a special service to help residents isolated after Thamesdown Transport cut service 21 for Penhill and Pinehurst, and service 23, which ran through Coleview.

The Cabinet will be asked to pay £14,994 for the bus firm to provide an off-peak service for Coleview and the Penhill Valley for up to a year while long-term solutions are sought.

Also to be discussed will be plans to set up a group to support Swindon’s ambition to become a university town, pans to agree the allocation of the former Windmill Hill School site, in Freshbrook, for a self-build housing scheme, and plans to support a fairer charges policy for non-residential care services.