The Height Of Stupidity

If you're going to have a conflict of interest you might as well make it as big as possible with 2 full pages in a newspaper, 14 storeys of a tower block and a plan that has enraged an entire district of Swindon.

The Swindon Advertiser story on the hope-to-be-but-now-shelved development of the Adver offices on Victoria Road is easily the worst proposed development for Old Town in a generation.

The highlights included plonking a 14 storey tower block of flats within a few hundred years of Christ Church spire, blocks of flats that take no account of the local area's materials or character and a basic misunderstanding that Old Town is the "poor neighbour" of New Town.

Surprisingly, the developer has now withdrawn the plan and will go back to the drawing board. What's more surprising is that the Adver have given the full details of the shelving and have restated that they exist to report the news in a balanced and fair way. Journalistic integrity!

What would William Morris make of it?

Let's hope the revised plans are not simply something low-rise but equally out-of-character to the tower plan.