Same again, please?

The plan to demolish the Tented Market and replace it with a development of restaurant units and cafes is nothing new, a similar plan was mooted in 2007 and rejected in 2008 and it appears history is repeating itself, almost to the letter.

The 2007 plan was to demolish the Tented Market and replace it with a building housing 4 restaurants or cafes and one coffee shop. The proposal was recommended for approval by the council officers for planning but this was ignored and the proposal was rejected by the councillors on the Planning Committee. The main reason for the rejection then was the objections raised by the developers for Regent Circus and for Granville Street (the Granville Street development plan subsequently collapsed and work at Regent Circus did not start for a further four years) that the area would be saturated with food and drink businesses (just like the objections lodged by the traders at the Tented Market today). A smaller reason for objection was that the design was not 'landmark enough' as a replacement for the Tented Market building.

Skip forward to 2016 and it seems nothing has changed, at all.

Objections have been raised by the traders for the town centre being saturated by food and drink businesses, both at Regent Circus and soon at the Brunel Centre. It seems our appetite for a bite to eat is never-ending, with all cafes and restaurants in town appearing to stick around for a lot longer than the shops. 

The last version of the 2007 plan (there were a few), that was presented to SBC and rejected was called a 'pavilion' of 4 restaurants and one shop unit. 

The current plan is for 5 restaurant units in a building that is on the identical footprint of the 2007 proposed 'pavilion' and the elevations look very similar, with a little more glass and not as boxy a roof.

In short, Swindon has been presented in 2016 with a plan for a building almost identical in appearance to one it rejected allowing to be built in 2008.

8 years later, will SBC follow their own precedent and reject the proposal a second time? 

Back to the Future on the Buses

Changes proposed by Thamesdown Transport see lots of what was old will be new again.

From the 31st May, the changes will include :

- The 1/1A will now resume it's previous cross-town routing, linking Covingham and Nythe with Middleleaze and Grange Park, which will see the number 2 vanish. This gives East Swindon a 10 minute frequency again, after it being cut down to 15 minutes, then upped to 12 minutes when it's been the number 2. Evening services will go back to a half-hour frequency.

- 13/14 are rerouted after 6pm and all day Sunday via Regent Circus for the new cinema.

- The 15 sees the last service from Wichelstowe withdrawn.

- The 17 and 18 see changes to give Penhill back a 10 minute frequency to Park North and the Park South service is reduced to half-hourly and extended to Coate Water.

- The 20 will be withdrawn as it does not cover it's cost. Strangely, for a bus that doesn't have enough passengers to pay for itself, the withdrawal of it is predicted to cause car park chaos for the GWH staff forced to drive.

All in all, the changes see lots of improvements, or a return to previous service levels, with some commercial flair by rerouting to take advantage of new destinations, but the withdrawal of the 20 is a necessary move, unless Swindon Borough Council want to increase subsidies, don't blame the bus company for it's loss.

Heaven's A Dove ; Bird Stops Books On Big Build

With the delight that the new Central Library appears, until now, to be on time, today's story was a piece of fluffy nonsense our town is first-class at.

A dove has nested in the rafters of the new library at Regent Circus and cannot be moved. Not only because it has a library card, but also an act of parliament to protect it. Work, it's been said, will not be disrupted, as extra time is in the schedule to allow for problems caused by wildlife, including councillors.

Swindon Centric Says ; Someone, somewhere on a message board will link the nesting bird story back to immigration and blame it on those from Poland and elsewhere "coming over here and nesting in our rafters". Shame, but true.