Thetownend.com

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/display.var.828626.0.on_yer_bikes.php

Personally I've never been to the speedway (had a few good nights at the dogs)

I still think its bang out of order though. The 2nd biggest sports club in Swindon, and from what I understand they have been pretty successful over the years too.

Sacrificed for what? some more houses. Just what Swindon needs.

I think the houses will be for peopl who live in Abbey Meads who can't find their houses after they go out shopping.

Shopping or drinking?

any reason really, I can never find the same place twice in Abbey Meads, damn rabbit warren.

what i want to know is where the kids are going to go to school when these homes are built.my cousins lad was nearly forced to go to penhill as none of the local schools had room.only after months of struggle eventually a place was found for the child.i didn't even consider that area when looking for my new home for this reason.
as for the speedway that stadium is a right state and needs a revamp but the speedway should remain in swindon and preferbly at its current location

"He said there was no reason why the team could not move to Reading, followed by supporters who could make the trip down the M4."



The cunt wants shooting - FACT!

I've never been to speedway but been to the dogs which was a good laugh.

I wonder if the people that protest about these sorts of things are the same ones that complain Swindon has nothing to do? I don't see why these situations have more supporters especially as Swindon is deemed to be a boring town.

Too right Arriba, the council just want to build houses for revenue but don't realise that extra facilities (e.g. schools) need to be built to cope with the new population.

The speedway is ace. I havent been for a couple of years, but the fact remains that a good few hundred (maybe tousands) of people in the town enjoy a night down there. Getting rid of it would be a travesty

makes me laugh "local residents dont like it"

Well other than the houses down the side of the A419 (blunsdon) all the other nearby homes have been built in the last 5 years.

IF YOU DONT LIKE THE NOISE OF LOUD MOTORBIKES, DONT MOVE IN NEXT TO A SPEEDWAY TRACK YOU FUCKING MORONS

Absolutely - What a bunch of cunts!!!!!!!!!

I hope the Speedway fans fight tooth and nail to stop this.Ive no interest in Speedway but this is part of Swindons heritage.Ill back them all the way.

Speedway first .. football next? What is going on in this town?

Fucking politics, thats what  :evil:

Although not directly culpable, SBC will doubtless be complicit in destroying another small piece of Swindon'd cultural heritage.

  The spineless councillors (see JT)....will hide behind teh facade of obfustication and red tape offered by their officers.

  The real laugh is that the owner of Robins, suggests STFC wouldn't be kicked out,  whereas nothing in SBC recent decision making, indicates otherwise.

Sad news. I regularly attended Speedway for about twenty years (from the age of about 3 months) in the 70's and 80's. Great atmosphere there and its been going for many years before that.

a sad loss for Swindon sport. apart from STFC it's the only place where crowds of 2500 plus watch sport in the town

That's a complete load of bollocks, Reg.

Swindon Borough Council have absolutely NO SAY in what the private owners of the stadium want to do with their (commercial) enterprise and the land that they own on which it is situated. SBC don't own any part of it and have no public interest in it.

Gaming International can do what they want with it, Swindon Robins or not.

The only decision making the council will get involved in is in responding to a planning application for yet more houses and they can only grant or deny that for planning reasons - nothing to do with heritage. It's not even on the radar for the council so don't try and implicate them for commercial decisions that might be unpopular with the local electorate. That's just disingenous.

Surely a greyhound track would make lots of noise as well though? Something that the locals complain about. Approving more houses would in fact go against this.

The greyhound racing is an existing use that nobody can object to.

More houses is a preferred option as far as The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (aka Prescott as was) goes. The planning guidelines love new houses on brownfield sites. Expect them any time real soon.

There's no real argument against this unfortunately in terms of local council, electorate or campaigning. The Robins will have to find somewhere else to ride or just disappear. It's shit, but that's just commercial economics.  :(

Why is that?

I'm not being funny or anything, I'm just not very clued up on the situation!

Because in planning law it has a precedence.

Think of it in terms of a shop. If it's a clothes shop, you can't decide to start selling take away food just because you feel like it, you have to apply for a change of use. Which means that any planning officers and committees have to decide if it fits in with local regs and is appropriate for the location.

So it is much easier to carry on with the previous trade. In the clothes shop example...clothes. In the stadium case, dog racing.

It's the same with houses, offices and industrial units. I could ask for planning permission to turn my house into a pizza restaurant or a brothel, but I'm extremely unlikely to get permission. Better off just staying as a dwelling.  :wink:  Doh.

I did the same ! You didn't by chance stand on the 4th bend did you ? That was my haunt to watch the Ashby brother, Bob Kilby, Geoff Bouchard, Rolf Gramstad, Steen Mastrup, Jan Andersson, Bobby McNeil etc

NMH

jimmy Nielsen, Rickard Hellsen with his leg sticking out - Legends

It is pretty noisy, you canhear it from Haydon Wick; I always rather liked it though - in the same way I used to like hearing the end of shift horn from the BREL works,  the Hercules from Lyneham, Concorde going over on its way to New York at a bit after 11am.  Made me think things were actually going on and a lot less annoying than church bells for example (which are OK in the distance, but never live next door to some !).

All gone or going now ... bloody hell i've come over in a Reg like nostalgic trance

Excuse my rubbishness, but does that not also apply to carrying on Speedway, as it's already there?

Indeed it does. Which is why losing the speedway element will be such a shame. It's going to be a hell of a lot harder to find another site and get planning permission. Unless it is in the middle of nowhere there will be a lot of resident objections on noise and there will also be environmental regs to meet.

 :(

I'm a local to the speedway, I never go, and I often here the noise of the engines from my house.

Personally i want the Speedway track to remain there, I have no problem with The Robins staying where they are.  Typical development crap.

If there's a petition (a proper one, not an internet one) I'll be signing it in favour of the club.

Good luck to all involved.

Exactly I bought a house last year at Ash Brake, knowing full well that there's a Speedway track close by.  Like I say these NIMBY's can feck off.  I'm an IMBY!!!!!

Although I do hope the campaign to save the Swindon Robins won't be "SOS - Save our Speedway" they've got to come up with something more original than that.

Do they seriously get that much?? :o

They often have a couple of meetings a week up there I think.

Also where else in town attracts "World class" talent.  There was a grand prix up there not so long ago with all the best riders in the world.

They used to get a lot more. Back in the 60s and early 70s there used to be huge crowds up at Blunsdon. People used to go up there after the football. The crowds started to dip in the late 70s but I'd say 2500 is easily what they still get.

I tend to go to Poole these days (when I can afford it) and the crowds there can regularly be around 3500 to 4000. Other places get a bit more.

If you've never been to Speedway, treat yourself. Once you get the hang of how matches work and you get to know the riders and the teams it gets very addictive.

"The ground first hosted speedway racing in 1948, long before any houses were built nearby, Mr Russell said."

Hello? Blunsdon wasn't there then? The settlement of Blunsdon was established by the Romans FFS! And I walk to the Speedway from my house in Blunsdon for years so I'd say it's nearby...

It's sad to see it go, but I wouldn't worry yet.
Blunsdon's area has very strict rules about new planning applications (green belt not sure about across the road?), and the village's determination not to be swallowed by Swindon will create about 3,000 opponents to the planning application for new houses over the road.

My folks will be Nimby's for the new houses, but the speedway sounds are part of the village now and we love it.

 Ah GetReal in disguise....so as far as you're concerned our elected representatives should just quietly acquiesce when any passing company wishes to maximise their profit , because there's nothing they can do about it ...its the rules gov. (see www.rulesgov.com)

While I agree that there is probably not very much the Council can do to stop this, they could be proactive in voicing concerns about the loss of the Speedway and attempting to influence the developer as much as possible.

Hopefully the development of houses will be the issue, and locals will object as strongly as they can, but even then, isn't this land already identified for housing many years ago?

fucking bristol companies, sticking their fucking noses in. fucks me right off. i wish i was mega rich, i'd sort STFC out and then the speedway, its daft.

i used to watch speedway on the tele on saturday mornings when i was younger. found it really entertaining. never been though, a boss of mine told me to. but i never did. arent swindon like 3rd in the league or something?

Not that far across as I understand it, only up to Haydon Wick/Abbey Meads, but they're past that already....

Policy R8 of the Revised Deposit Draf of the Swindon Borough Local Plan to 2011 applies to the Blunsdon Stadium area:

"7.6.4 The site currently occupied by the
Abbey Stadium is safeguarded for leisure
development uses. Swindon Speedway
and Greyhound Racing Promotions
currently occupy the Abbey Stadium and
form an important part of the character and
recreational life of the town. The site
adjoins the Northern Development Area
and in order to safeguard provision,
possibilities for more intensive leisure use
of the site, by way of redevelopment, would
be permitted provided that the development
complies with other relevant policies of the
plan."

"Other relevant policies of the plan" would presumably allow housing development on part of the site (as it is considered to be "brownfield") if it meant that better leisure facilities could be provided. AKA 'enabling development'.

The land between the stadium and the existing houses at Abbey Meads (next to Motorola) comes under Policy E1/19 as a Key Employment Area and is very unlikely to be allowed to have houses built on it.

* shrug *

We have elected a party into power in our council that believes strongly in capitalism, with a leader who has publicly stated that their policy is one of "the free market economy with a social conscience".

We (collectively as a town) put them there.

 Speak for yourself mate....its more a case of they've found themselves there as a consequence of a series of random events....nevertheless, if you pin most councillors down (a desirable action) they say their first loyalty is to their constituents.

I don't. The voters did.

in all fairness he has a point reg

The redevelopment wouldn't allow more intensive leisure usage would it? Wouldn't it be less if the speedway was removed?

As I understand it (and I'm happy for you to tell me I'm wrong on this Reg cos I'd love for the speedway to be saved) the council's hands are pretty much tied on this. GI own the land and the only influence the council have is in their capacity as a planning body and even there they're severely restricted as to what grounds they could (for example) reject the 350 houses. Certainly, as I understand it, they couldn't legally say to GI "If you kick out the Robins, we'll turn down your planning application" even if they wanted to. Like I say, I'm happy to be corrected, cos it seems to me that if the council can stop it, then creating a hell of a fuss and putting pressure on the council is pretty much the only way of stopping this. What other way is there of persuading GI not to kick the Speedway out? It's not like they give a fuck what we think of them is it? Seriously, if anyone's got any ideas/answers on serious suggestions as to how a campaign could be mounted that would stand a chance of stopping this, I'm all ears.

A simple statement from the Council that in principal they are against the removal of a historicic amenity in our town, and will do all they can, would be a start. Don't hold your breath.

Hey Reg. Why don't you stand for council?

I have been a Borough Councillor AND a County Councillor in my time (not in Wiltshire or Dorset though). I know this sounds cynical but you would not believe how easy it is to get elected!!!!! A few hours knocking the right doors and you're in!

Maybe they read your posts!

Press release from Gaming International and Thistle Land.

A complete load of doubletalk. They just want to make the money out of developing the land. I wish they would just come out and say it rather than trying to justify the economic/space/resident arguments which are just bollocks.

And when did Blunsdon Stadium become Abbey Meads Stadium? Jeez.

---------------

Immediate Release - 20th July 2006

SWINDON SPEEDWAY TO BE OFFERED LONG TERM MOVE BACK TO SWINDON

Gaming International and Thistle Land are to offer to work with Swindon Robins Speedway and Swindon Borough Council to find a new, long term venue for the club following confirmation today that their annual licence for the Abbey Meads stadium will not be renewed for the 2007 season.

Swindon Robins will have the opportunity to continue racing from Gaming International's Smallmead stadium in Reading on a temporary basis until a new site can be found and developed in Swindon.

Gaming International will financially assist the temporary move to Reading.

Details of the offer will be discussed at a meeting later today between Swindon Speedway promoter, Terry Russell, and the owners of Abbey stadium.

Explaining the decision, Clarke Osborne, Chief Executive of Gaming International, said: "We are very happy to work with the club, the council and fans to find a new local venue for the Robins but it needs to be clearly understood that speedway is no longer an economic proposition at Abbey Meads stadium.

Attendances at speedway events nationwide have been falling in recent years and Swindon has been no exception with an average gate this season of just around 1300.

"Declining attendances have meant falling revenues, just at a time when health and safety requirements are becoming more onerous and expensive. Speedway is an expensive activity to accommodate and in recent years the increasing demands of our Greyhound Racing promotion add further costs to the management and maintenance of the Stadium.  

"There have also been a significant number of complaints to Swindon Borough Council's Environmental Health Department, from local residents living close to the Abbey Meads stadium, about noise and pollution.

"Speedway does not fit well in a busy greyhound stadium and, at its current levels of support is not able to make a significant contribution to the stadium business. I think it likely that in the years to come, speedway will be confined to a smaller number of stadiums, which have the right location and facilities for motor sport.

"However, that doesn't mean that there isn't the opportunity to create a modern, purpose-built, facility that would work for speedway and motor sport in Swindon, he said.

Gaming International and Thistle Land are jointly promoting a comprehensive redevelopment of the existing Abbey Meads stadium and adjoining Abbeymeads business park site.

Eric Petrie, Managing Director of Thistle Land, explained:  "Our preferred proposals for the Abbeymeads site envisage a new stadium but this could not incorporate a speedway track given its proximity to existing and, potential future, residential development.

"However, there may well be other sites in the Swindon area that could host speedway events in the future.   We are very willing to consider how the redevelopment of this major site at Abbeymeads could facilitate the return of speedway to Swindon in the longer term at a suitable location.

"If we can achieve enhanced value from the redevelopment of the Abbeymeads site - for example through additional residential development - then it would be possible to provide financial support for the development of a new, purpose-built, speedway and motor sport stadium elsewhere in Swindon.

"Speedway fans can't turn back the clock because the Abbey Meads stadium is no longer suitable for this type of activity but, provided supporters work with us and the Council, I am sure that we can find a better location for speedway in Swindon and the financial support to secure a long-term home for the Robins", he said.

A public exhibition of Gaming International and Thistle Land's proposals for the Abbey Meads stadium and business park site will be held on Tuesday 25th July from 11am to 7.30pm at the Church of Christ the Servant in Abbey Meads, Swindon.

ENDS

yeah, good luck with getting the council to help find some suitable land - They'll probabblly just recommend Shaw tip again FFS.

its a good oppurtunity for Swindon Robins and STFC to work together in partnership for a new sports site including new grounds for both

 I did my political stint, back in the 80's early 90's....and did consider standing.....it's a kind of family thing.....my grandfather was a councillor for 34 years.

  Problem is I've an in built dislike of bullshit meetings.....which are the staple diet of being a Councillor....then, what with having a young family, it just became too time consuming.