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Views on museum

FURTHER to the letters from the trustees of the Swindon Museum And Art Gallery in response to the petition to locate the museum and gallery in the Carriage Works, I would like explain why this petition has come about.

The new museum is the choice of some councillors and a selected few. Public consultation did not happen.

It is not surprising some people feel frustration as awareness of the cost of this project becomes apparent.

There is still time, despite what some critics of the Carriage Works Petition claim, to revisit the proposal for a revised bid before November.

It is unacceptable to suggest the new-build design has to be accepted or there will be no museum at all. Many people welcome a new museum but not this particular proposal.

Many people in Swindon are keen to save heritage sites There are also groups which are passionate advocates of this town. All are keen to see heritage sites saved and used with imagination and flair, for the benefit of the community as well as business.

What these groups need is for SBC to work with them now, with public consultation. The Delivery Plan from the SBC-funded Forward Swindon makes clear that much has to be done to regenerate Swindon.

This plan – again missing public consultation and disregarding heritage group suggestions – covers projects, including the Carriage Works and Mechanics’ Institute, and will need investors and grants to realise its visions.

It is vital a new museum should not be a trophy piece when other, more urgent projects receive poor treatment.

Even if the new museum gains £10m of HLF money, it is unlikely the HLF could be approached again.

Similarly, the £7m from SBC in cash and land could not be made available to restore heritage sites.

Hopefully, private investors would not pull funding if the choice of location were changed to better reflect Swindon’s needs and desires.

HLF bids are not guaranteed to succeed, so there is a real chance the HLF grant will not be awarded for either a new-build or a heritage site for the museum especially given it is a for an unusually large amount.

In this case, the Carriage Works would provide a structure that the museum could move into and extend in measured stages, still with more space initially than is in its present Bath Road location.

The idea that old buildings cannot be made fit for purpose is ludicrous considering how many prestigious redevelopments have successfully changed their use in many cities. Other places have made the re-use of heritage buildings a priority, as Swindon should.

It is also acknowledged heritage buildings attract more visitors and pay more back in returns on investment.

Forward Swindon shows that the Carriage Works could provide a more sustainable and more accessible space than that of the new-build Museum and Art Gallery. The new-build’s sustainability is dependent on a questionable 90k annual footfall, a small space for additional income outlets and overblown estimations of how it will attract people to the Town Centre.

Swindon town centre businesses are already finding rent and rates too expensive – the claim that the new museum will help SBC to raise rates and rents is worrying. Our Town Centre would be better improved by providing a decent market, lowering rents and rates in order to draw in independent, unusual traders and to ensure all shops are rented out – these are techniques widely acknowledged to help town centres compete against the internet market.

The new-build location is not as easily accessible by road or public transport as the Carriage Works. For pedestrians, the only way for people to access this site from the pre-existing Regent Street flow would be the narrow alley alongside the Savoy pub and more development would need to follow. Satisfactory sight line and approach options from Regent Street are severely restricted by the immoveable Telephone Exchange and access via Fleming Way is indirect.

Much more development work in the new-build area would need to follow. There will need to be as an extension or new-build of the Wyvern Theatre and a redevelopment of the Law Court area, which could make the area around the new-build Museum and Art Gallery a building site for some time.

The Carriage Works is, on the other hand, enormous and more sustainable. It is more directly and openly accessible by foot from the Town Centre and transport stations. It has nearby car parks and is nearer main artery roads. Pedestrians could be naturally drawn through an access point from the Carriage Works to move into the Town Centre along East Street, where they would pass the historic Railway Village and 1-3 Faringdon Road. It is also near other heritage sites such as the Mechanics Institute and the Heath Hydro, which are both subject to improvement plans.

All of the above are easily accessible from the (to-be improved) foot tunnel which links The Steam Museum and the Outlet Village, and its car parks. The £77k Feilden Clegg Bradley study SBC paid for c. 2006 proposed a heritage trail linking the Town Centre to the Railway area, which it recommended as Swindon’s cultural centre – so this idea has had been recommended by award-winning architects.

The digital arts, artist studios and creative businesses Forward Swindon wish to attract to the Carriage Works would happily co-exist in a Carriage Works’ museum and gallery site. They would also provide the museum and gallery with a sustainable income. A yard space between the east and west buildings is included in Forward Swindon’s plans for outdoor events and a café – again, income generators. This space could be enhanced with an eye-catching sculpture and prominent signage for the Museum and Art Gallery, which would be seen from the train line.

There is also more space for larger exhibits, and it already has been suggested as a venue for exhibits from the Science Museum.

It is without doubt that some good people have put a lot of work and effort into the new-build Museum and Art Gallery, but it is ill-advised for Swindon and much should be learnt about the necessity of public consultation from the reaction to this proposal. Urgent work needs to be done by all concerned, with full public consultation, to prepare a better Museum and Art Gallery bid before the November HLF bid submission date.

This petition is not intended as an act of sabotage, but as an attempt to refocus Swindon’s development efforts before it is too late to regenerate an area unique to Swindon.

Any town can have a new-build - only Swindon can have a Railway Quarter with such a marvellous museum and art gallery. The petition is still available on www.change.org and I am happy to be contacted for a paper version.

ANA KELLY

Carriage works petition organiser

Join asthma project

I AM writing to let you know that people in your area with asthma are being invited to take part in an innovative new digital health project pilot that aims to reduce their risk of suffering asthma attacks.

Asthma UK’s 12-Week Asthma Support Programme, funded by a Department of Health Innovation Challenge Fund grant, will provide people with asthma with remote and virtual support from a team of specialist asthma nurses and psychologists who specialise in behavioural change, to reduce their chance of having an asthma attack.

Upon signing up for the pilot, people with asthma will receive personalised digital support that is easily and conveniently available to them wherever they are, via their smartphones.

The initial pilot will involve 30 people with asthma who have had an asthma attack in the last year, are aged between 18-67, live in England and have a smartphone.

After the initial pilot, a further 320 people will be recruited to join a second phase of the pilot inform recruited from autumn 2017.

The impact of the pilot in improving asthma control and reducing the risk of asthma attacks among people with asthma will then be evaluated.

Anyone who is interested in taking part in the 12-Week Asthma Support Programme pilot can find out more and sign up at www.asthma.org.uk/asthma-support-programme

MICHAEL CLARKE

Asthma UK

More Christian facts

IN RESPONSE to Mr. Hunt’s letters “Lesson in Religion” SA April 1, he states in his last paragraph, one thing for sure Christianity is not tolerated in the Middle East or Pakistan.

Have all Christians been asked to leave these the countries, Mr. Hunt? I feel you need to be educated on the above subject with some facts and figures.

Before the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 there were 1.4 million Christians – there are now 275,000 in Pakistan and India, two countries you insulted by claiming the Blair government let in uneducated Muslims.

In Pakistan there are 2.5 million Christians, India in their 2011 census said there were 27.8 million, Iran around 370,000 and Turkey 160,000.

In Egypt there are about 2,000 churches, in Iran 600 and in Turkey 34.

I suggest you research your facts on computer if you have access to one. Failing that, visit your local library if you are able to do so or do what I have done and invest in books on the Middle East, based on facts and information and not on guesswork

MARK WEBB

Old Town

Swindon

Plea to dog owners

I HAVE just read David Smith’s letter re dog fouling and am in total agreement with his questioned statement; ‘ .... do dog owners think they have a divine right to do whatever they please?’ I have no doubt that he and I are not alone in our frustration at the seeming lack of disrespect and carelessness from a minority of dog owners in the locality.

Around Park North and Park South, especially Cavendish Square, there are regular piles of dog mess created undoubtedly by dogs off leads whose owners are way ahead of them or way behind them or not even there at all.

There is a resident near Cavendish Square who regularly lets her two dogs out of the premises’ front door to let them wander around unattended doing their business everywhere and running up to and barking at anyone who passes.

This has been going on for some time and has scared my son on many an occasion. This is selfishness and laziness at its highest level.

I am also becoming increasingly frustrated with the many dog owners who exercise their dogs at Coate Water off the lead.

These dogs are uncontrolled, jumping in the water scaring and chasing the wildlife, running up to children and parents who do not want or expect to be harried in this manner. Why are the park wardens not enforcing a lead policy in this area?

Coate Water is a country park supposed to be enjoyed by everyone, especially children, but now has been taken over by nuisance dog walkers who, like David Smith says, think they have a divine right to ruin everyone else’s day out.

Please keep your dogs on a lead and control them. Please pick up your dog’s mess and bin it and don’t leave it to me or my son to take it home for you on the bottom of our shoes.

MICHAEL SKULL

Park South

Swindon

War rules worthless

I REFER to the recent letter from Martin Webb, who felt it right to voice his opinion over the case of Royal Marine, Alexander Blackman. I have omitted the ‘Ex’ from the title as I believe that he still has a right to be a Royal Marine even though, as Martin Webb states, ‘He broke the Geneva convention.’ Martin is rightly entitled to his opinion but my own opinion does differ in respect of what facts does Martin hold that other countries have upheld the rules of engagement within the Geneva Convention?

There is a case for “such actions make him no better than the violent cruel organisation he was fighting and trying to defeat” but, why is it always us that have to abide by the Geneva Convention? In many cases it is worthless.

If I, and many others I know, were in combat with an enemy that does not define, respect or even abide by rules of engagement and are happy to see it as a huge publicity campaign to show the videos of barbaric beheading of captured soldiers etc, then, in my very humble opinion, they deserve all they get. My only regret is that it came into the media’s domain.

I may be callous, but I have my own opinion, like Martin Webb.

If Alexander Blackman had a choice he would not have been in the situation he found himself in. Thank our Government for that.

Alexander will be affected by what he has done and the effect that this case has had upon him and his family will be prevalent for some time, so don’t think that he has got off lightly.

CHRIS GLEED

Proud Close

Purton

Recycling woes

I WAS very annoyed when I arrived at Covingham Square yesterday as usual with my recycling to find that all the containers had gone.

I did not read or hear of any intention to do this. I cannot get across to Cheney Manor and at a time when we should be encouraging people to recycle even more I find this a very backward move.

This will encourage more fly-tipping and litter, especially when coupled with the increase in the cost of green bins.

S BALDWIN

Waverley Road

Swindon

Cut cost of green bins

I WOULD be very happy to have my green bin collected for six months in the summer only as that that will reduce the cost.

GREGORY JACKOWSKI

Fairford Crescent

Swindon