Letter from Mr N Moon (From Swindon Advertiser)

Letter from Mr N Moon

1:39pm Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

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RE: The ex police station site in the centre of town.

I read with interest the options being considered for the ex police station site just off Princes Street. The favoured route appears to be yet another hotel with claims that the interest from hotel chains wouldn't be there if the demand wasn't there, something I await to be convinced about.

No doubt the bias towards this option also has a tiny bit to do with cash, but it is not necessarily the best addition to what is becoming an embarrassing town centre.

Might I suggest three things?

1) Forget the ridiculous idea of another water feature instead of the clock. Fix the clock, ditch the proposed 18 - 30 open urinal.

2) Forget putting a canal through the town - spend the money on a tram or overhead rail system linking the town centre and the Outlet Centre instead. It may benefit traders in both sites, and open up and regenerate areas like Faringdon Park.

3) As for the ex police station site - why not an old traditional market (perhaps undercover) or open like we used to have in Fleet Street. The ex tenants of the tented market would have first refusal on pitches having been treated shamefully already and it might add just a little bit of spark to that area.

I'm no politician so I guess the ideas will be shot down for not bringing in enough pennies to the town or for being too expensive, but when the town centre is just hotels, flats, an abundance of empty shops, a water feature that has stopped working and a stagnant smelly canal full of shopping trolleys and rubbish, don't say I didn't suggest an alternative.

As for the Mechanics’ Institute - as a town with fantastic heritage, those of you in the ivory tower should be ashamed of yourself...

(Mr) N MOON

Petter Close

Wroughton