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Title: Development at Coate Post by: Ardiles on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:27:36 Is anyone else a little surprised at the details emerging from the Coate development enquiry?
Adver: Coate enquiry story (http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4119461.Beauty_spot_site_worth___44m_sold_for_a_quid/) I don't fully understand what's going on here, but it seems the siting of a university on land to the side of Coate Water is a done deal. Seems a shame to me. A town centre site would do so much more for Swindon. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Batch on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:31:27 I'll give them £2 for the site. But I want the CG thrown in too.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Summerof69 on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:38:54 Sounds like a Government quango has got involved here, and sold it despite the council not want anything there.
I'm sure Paul D will have a few thoughts on this !!! Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jayohaitchenn on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:41:01 I'm all for it.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: LucienSanchez on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:51:32 A university in the town would be good. The campus itself doesnt really need to be in the centre, so that doesnt bother me. I dont see why Coate and some development can't ive in harmony :)
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Ardiles on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:53:38 I'm all for it. But why? There's a site on offer at North Star which, despite the noises being made by those involved in the Coate development, is infinitely better connected. The town centre and railway station (which many students would rely on) are both within walking distance. I simply can't understand why Swindon keeps pushing development to the outskirts - like it has been doing for decades now. It's the hollow doughnut effect. Retail villages and leisure centres on all points of the compass while the heart of the town decays. What is desperately needed is proper investment in the town centre. Develop a campus at North Star and you would bring thousands of students in to the town itself. Bars, restaurants, bookshops, arts facilities - they would all improve. Coate is nearly 4 miles out of town, and a campus there would do nothing for the town. Swindon has ignored its town centre for too long...and it shows. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: LucienSanchez on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 12:02:33 I might be missing something here, but aren't the council selling the land off for a quid? Yet they complain about being skint and having to put council tax up?
How does that work? Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: chalkies_shorts on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 12:10:34 If we put aside the argument of whether there should be a development at Coate then you've really got to applaud our Council. Instead of having a class university like Bath on our doorstep we now get UWE. Bath were going to relocate thier medical faculty so they could work with GWH.
Thats a class bit of business SBC - congratulations. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 14:43:26 I might be missing something here, but aren't the council selling the land off for a quid? Yet they complain about being skint and having to put council tax up? You're missing the words "would" and "if" - the developers are proposing that the council sell them the land for a quid, the council are opposed to it as they now favour a town centre campus.And as I've pointed out countless times before, the university is a complete red herring in this - it's purely a Trojan horse (yes, I know that's a horrible mixed metaphor) for 2000+ houses and yet another couple of business parks which is what the developers actually want to build. But they're prepared to throw in a mini-Uni campus to sweeten the deal. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Rich Pullen on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 14:59:58 When I was at college in Chippenham 6 years ago people came in and pitched a "would you go to a university in Swindon?" Most said no.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Ardiles on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 15:07:16 If they had asked 'Would you go to a university on the edge of Swindon, next to a motorway junction and bugger all else?' the response would have been even worse, I'm sure.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: LucienSanchez on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 15:15:30 You're missing the words "would" and "if" - the developers are proposing that the council sell them the land for a quid, the council are opposed to it as they now favour a town centre campus. And as I've pointed out countless times before, the university is a complete red herring in this - it's purely a Trojan horse (yes, I know that's a horrible mixed metaphor) for 2000+ houses and yet another couple of business parks which is what the developers actually want to build. But they're prepared to throw in a mini-Uni campus to sweeten the deal. Okay... so why would anyone with any intelligence consider selling £44m worth of land for a quid? Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: magicroundabout on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 15:17:46 ha ace.
my company are working on the travel plans and access routes for this development etc. i'm been creating plans all week for the reports which have gone to this enquiry. coolio Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Arriba on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 15:53:33 why dont the develop the land to the rear of the old oakfield school instead? dodgy dealings going on
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: ron dodgers on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:09:27 isn't the quid deal between SGP and UWE and aren't there 5 owners of the land that SGP have a deal with?
I suppose they would be looking at setting up a campus a bit like Bath for example or like Essex outside Colchester - North Star and Oakfield might be on the weeny side. It would be better if the main campus of UWE would be in Swindon but it looks like it isn't going to be - never mind it was a nice idea Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Don Rogers Shop on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:16:29 Oakfield would be ideal.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:18:07 ha ace. Have they worked out there are houses where they plan on putting in the access roads yet? Last round of enquiries, the developers unveiled their plans and my neighbours pointed out that their access roads went through their lounge, to which the developers confidently replied that there were no houses down there, only to retreat in blushing confusion when they realised there are, we live in them and they just hadn't allowed for themmy company are working on the travel plans and access routes for this development etc. i'm been creating plans all week for the reports which have gone to this enquiry. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: magicroundabout on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:23:31 if this is the area i'm thinking of (possibly not) which is west of Commonhead Roundabout?
I've been working on designs for a development there, including new signalisation of M4 J15 and new slip lanes and access road off the A419 into the site Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:26:26 if this is the area i'm thinking of (possibly not) which is west of Commonhead Roundabout? Yep that's the one. Do us a favour and keep the access road out of my front room this time.I've been working on designs for a development there, including new signalisation of M4 J15 and new slip lanes and access road off the A419 into the site Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: magicroundabout on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:29:33 which access road you talking of?
i've been working on the M4 J15 and a third lane approach to commonhead. the actual development design is done by the architects which we aren't. We do Highways and transport microsimulation modeling. and anyway, i assume your front room would be quite nice to drive through Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: nevillew on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:47:54 Yep that's the one. Do us a favour and keep the access road out of my front room this time. Couldn't they use your lava lamps as traffic lights ? Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: BANGKOK RED on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:55:07 Paul could be the Lollipop man.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:58:22 which access road you talking of? We'd need to tidy round a little bit first. And hoover a bit. We could make our kitchen a drive-thrui've been working on the M4 J15 and a third lane approach to commonhead. the actual development design is done by the architects which we aren't. We do Highways and transport microsimulation modeling. and anyway, i assume your front room would be quite nice to drive through Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Bogus Dave on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:09:00 Develop a campus at North Star and you would bring thousands of students in to the town itself. Bars, restaurants, bookshops, arts facilities - they would all improve. Coate is nearly 4 miles out of town, and a campus there would do nothing for the town. Swindon has ignored its town centre for too long...and it shows. Coate 4 miles from town? Its 15 minutes max on the bus Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Ardiles on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:20:21 4 miles from Town (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=swindon&daddr=51.531387,-1.726913&hl=en&geocode=&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=13&sll=51.549538,-1.759872&sspn=0.046541,0.109863&ie=UTF8&z=13) And I did say 'nearly'. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Bogus Dave on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:23:11 Huh. fair enough.
If theres a fully fledged uni though it can only be good for the town Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: BANGKOK RED on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:25:53 My Nan lives near Coate. It is easily walkable from there to town in an hour or so:
Up Pakenham Rd., Keep going straight and through Lawn Woods into Old town. From Old town down Vic hill and you are there. Not far at all. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: BANGKOK RED on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:27:10 And for the record, I'd prefer Coate to be left as it is.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: RobertT on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 18:47:09 I'm still a bit confused why we can't have one of the two colleges just keep developing and progress to University status? Swindon College already has a decent sized building able to cater for several thousand and plenty of land exists that way, plus a load of freed up land in the Town Centre that is unlikely to see development for a fair few years now. It's clearly a housing deal, in which case they should just say so. For all manner of reasons it seems like the worst possible site for a Uni and I'm in 2 minds about whether having a Uni will do much for Swindon anyway, especially if it's just an outreach arm of another towns one. Will we be the next Telfrod?
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Ironside on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 23:08:14 My Nan lives near Coate. It is easily walkable from there to town in an hour or so: Up Pakenham Rd., Keep going straight and through Lawn Woods into Old town. From Old town down Vic hill and you are there. Not far at all. Yes but your talking about students here and, as everyone knows, they're a bunch of timewasting lazy, dossing cunts. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: chalkies_shorts on Thursday, February 12, 2009, 23:36:28 And as I've pointed out countless times before, the university is a complete red herring in this - it's purely a Trojan horse (yes, I know that's a horrible mixed metaphor) for 2000+ houses and yet another couple of business parks which is what the developers actually want to build. But they're prepared to throw in a mini-Uni campus to sweeten the deal. So if we work on the basis that there will be a Uni then then they're prepared to trade Bath against UWE to build houses. The Uni may not be the issue but if we're going to have one then Bath trumps UWE every time. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Bogus Dave on Friday, February 13, 2009, 02:53:32 So if we work on the basis that there will be a Uni then then they're prepared to trade Bath against UWE to build houses. The Uni may not be the issue but if we're going to have one then Bath trumps UWE every time. here here Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Reg Smeeton on Friday, August 7, 2009, 15:06:18 *bump*
A rare bit of good news...this plan has been thrown out for now. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Summerof69 on Friday, August 7, 2009, 15:09:58 Paul D will be happy.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Reg Smeeton on Friday, August 7, 2009, 15:13:16 Paul D will be happy. Many thousands of people will be happy. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Batch on Friday, August 7, 2009, 15:19:29 I'm happy. Why ruin the best bit of Swindon. There must be other suitable sites.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Fred Elliot on Friday, August 7, 2009, 16:04:28 I'm happy. Why ruin the best bit of Swindon. There must be other suitable sites. Amen I for one am over the moon Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Arriba on Friday, August 7, 2009, 16:08:08 good news.dont think it has gone away for good though
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Simon Pieman on Friday, August 7, 2009, 16:27:22 They should be making the most of these types of open spaces, not building on them. Coate Water is a site of special scientific interest too.
I went to Lydiard Park for the first time in years the other day which is a bit strange as I only live round the corner and I used to go there loads. What they've done with the place is fantastic, I'm definitely going to go back when the opportunity arises. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Talk Talk on Friday, August 7, 2009, 21:31:40 The Coate decision is not as good as it sounds. It leaves the door wide open for the developers to resubmit their plans for 1,800 houses and a business park without the university.
Plus SBC are almost certainly going to build 700 'homes' north of Day House Lane anyway. I don't give a fuck about it any more. It is unstoppable in the long run. Meh. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Talk Talk on Monday, August 10, 2009, 23:21:31 Quote CELEBRATION TIME! We have won the battle for Coate (at the moment!). Fay and I thought that a celebration was due and we could all meet up and discuss how far we have come and also plan the next stage in the campaign. Also we wanted to say "Thanks" to the inhabitants of Lawn who have been a marvellous support to the cause and to see how we could all be involved in the future. To that end we have hired: LAWN COMMUNITY CENTRE HALL, Guildford Ave, Lawn. (On the 24 bus route). Date: Saturday August 22nd Time: 2.30-5:00pm You are ALL invited. Also anyone you know who has been involved in the campaign. We will have tea, coffee, cakes, sandwiches and snacks. Jean Saunders, Brian Burrows and others heavily involved will be present. Please let Felicity Cobb know if you are able to come before the event. It will be a "pop in" occasion and you are invited to stay as long or as briefly as you want! We do need to celebrate our victory whilst we are able. The Developers are appealing against the decision by the Inspector and Secretary of State, and nothing is certain.!! Hoping to see you all there at sometime during the afternoon. thank you. Felicity Cobb and Fay Le Coyte. I bet PD will be there. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 01:04:40 I bet PD will be there. Nah, I would but it clashes with my "swivel-eyed-loon-anarcho-free-market-the-lizard-men-are-coming-to-eat-us-and-Gordon-Brown-is-directing-the-black-helicopters-which-will-steal-our-children" encounter group.And if you're going to quote from that list, you might, if you wished to be fair, also quote those who see this as just a temporary reprieve - as I've often said, the developers couldn't give a fuck about the university, it's all about the houses and the business park. They'll get that sooner or later, not least because (as you pointed out) SBC have granted themselves planning permission for a "thin end of the wedge" 750+ housing development. I'm just hoping the whole fucking lot of them go bust and have to sell their kidneys on the internet How's your methane swamp? Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: axs on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 06:16:21 I thought he meant P.Diddy. How disappointing.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: TOWNEND TONTO on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 07:43:12 We dont need a uni built at coate and as for the houses they want to build why dont the finish of the ones at Oakhurst ect they started a few years ago.
We have to many empty buildings in and around the town centre to worry about digging up coate or any of the fields around it.Lets build on built on sites. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jonny72 on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 11:22:39 I still can't believe the council have managed to fuck up having Bath University expand in to Swindon. It is one of the top 10 universities in the country and they should have bent over backwards to get them here. It would have been a massive boost to the town but instead the council did their usual.
Not sure a university in the town centre would work either, if it did it would be shit compared to the single campus all singing and dancing option. Again, why take the second best option when we could get something really good. Anyone who thinks the Coate site won't get developed at some point is in cloud cuckoo land. They only need to get approval once and its game over. I'd have thought it better to let it go through and get everything out of it that you can rather than just block it all the time. Everyone seems to have a soft spot for Coate and I can only think they haven't been there recently. Unless they've done a major renovation it is falling apart and bordering on being a shit hole. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Ardiles on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 11:58:30 I still can't believe the council have managed to fuck up having Bath University expand in to Swindon. It is one of the top 10 universities in the country and they should have bent over backwards to get them here. It would have been a massive boost to the town but instead the council did their usual. Not sure a university in the town centre would work either, if it did it would be shit compared to the single campus all singing and dancing option. Again, why take the second best option when we could get something really good. Anyone who thinks the Coate site won't get developed at some point is in cloud cuckoo land. They only need to get approval once and its game over. I'd have thought it better to let it go through and get everything out of it that you can rather than just block it all the time. Everyone seems to have a soft spot for Coate and I can only think they haven't been there recently. Unless they've done a major renovation it is falling apart and bordering on being a shit hole. Agree with your general point: that Coate will inevitably be developed one day. The development will probably be purely residential with a few amenities thrown in. But completely disagree with point about the siting of the university. Even if it is 'all singing all dancing', a university campus at Coate will benefit Swindon about as much as Keele benefits Newcastle-under-Lyme (ie it doesn't.) Until they start to meaningfully develop the centre of Swindon, it will remain a sh**hole. There is a huge amount of land that could be developed within a 1 to 1½ radius of the centre of town, so why repeat the mistakes of the last 30 years and push everything to the outskirts again? Build a university at Coate (or anywhere else that's 4 miles from the centre of town), and 90% of the population would not even know it was there. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: michael on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 12:00:17 Anyone know what is happening with that big ski dome thing that was being talked about over at Hawksworth?
That would be mint. I also think that we should have a concert hall built in the town centre :) Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 12:18:08 I still can't believe the council have managed to fuck up having Bath University expand in to Swindon. It is one of the top 10 universities in the country and they should have bent over backwards to get them here. It would have been a massive boost to the town but instead the council did their usual. Bath University pulled out because the developers' plans did not leave them enough space for a campus, not because of the council. For the 98th time, the proposed development at Coate is not about a university, it's about developers wanting to build a massive housing estate and business park on the land between Coate Water and the hospital (You know, the land the council promised would not be built on when they gave the hospital the go-ahead). The idea of a university is just a sweetener and in the last lot of plans the developers submitted, it was basically "Let us build the massive housing estate/business park now and, erm, we promise to try really hard to rustle up some kind of university from somewhere who might be interested in a mini-campus on the pitiful amount of land left over from the bits we think we can make huge profits out of"Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Arnold.J.Rimmer on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 12:25:30 Anyone know what is happening with that big ski dome thing that was being talked about over at Hawksworth? That would be mint. I also think that we should have a concert hall built in the town centre :) I wouldn't get your hopes up, this is Swindon so probably won't happen. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jonny72 on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 12:38:00 Bath University pulled out because the developers' plans did not leave them enough space for a campus, not because of the council. For the 98th time, the proposed development at Coate is not about a university, it's about developers wanting to build a massive housing estate and business park on the land between Coate Water and the hospital (You know, the land the council promised would not be built on when they gave the hospital the go-ahead). The council could have made it happen and could have kept Bath University involved. It goes without saying that the university isn't central to the Coate development, but as I said it will happen at some point and they should get everything out of it that they can and in return allow it through. Otherwise the developers will eventually force it through and we'll get fuck all out of it. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Power to people on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 12:55:02 The council are selling off any bit of land they can make money out of, there is a proposal at the moment for them to sell land in Parks for flats, it is only a matter of time unfortunetly until Coate get's built on, I don't think this council will be happy until all green land has been built on.
Unfortunetly not all residents are savvy enough to be able to fight the council. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 13:13:29 The council could have made it happen and could have kept Bath University involved. You're right, they could. But it was a shit deal, so they didn'tTitle: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jonny72 on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 14:38:21 The big problem with all the new housing developments is that by the time residents get involved the damage has been done and its too late to really do anything about it. I'm not sure of the exact figure and time scale but I believe we're looking at something like 35,000 new houses in Swindon over the next 15 years.
By the time the council start zoning land for those new houses its too late for people to do anything about it. Sure you can fight the houses being built in a certain area but at the end of the day if they're not built there they will have to be built somewhere else. The Coate site might have survived this round but it will go one day, it has to. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: flammableBen on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 14:44:12 Surely you've also got the problem that there must be quite a few residents who live in fairly new houses on what would have previously been green land? They must feel a bit hypocritical complaining about other new houses going up.
Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jonny72 on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 14:52:15 They must feel a bit hypocritical complaining about other new houses going up. Similar to what pissed me off about all the Old Town residents complaining about the front garden development. Swindon had expanded outwards in every direction except south past Old Town, none of those residents said a word when all the other developments were happening. But as soon as it affects them they've got a problem with it. Bottom line is that if you've got a problem with the town where you live expanding exponentially and with green land being built on then Swindon is the wrong place to live. Fuck off to Bath or Bournemouth or something. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: Doore on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 15:06:04 none of those residents said a word when all the other developments were happening. But as soon as it affects them they've got a problem with it. Sad to say but isn't that just human nature? People rarely complain about an issue when it doesn't affect them. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: pauld on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 15:19:53 none of those residents said a word when all the other developments were happening. But as soon as it affects them they've got a problem with it. How do you know they didn't? Wild, unsubstantiated (and unprovable) assumption. Of course, when people do object to developments that directly affect them, people like you call them NIMBYs. When it doesn't directly affect them, people like you have a go at them because "it's none of their business"Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: jonny72 on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 15:51:01 How do you know they didn't? Wild, unsubstantiated (and unprovable) assumption. Maybe some of them said something about other developments, but on the whole they didn't give a toss until it was their turn. This was abundantly clear throughout their campaign which ended with them losing in court - I don't recall any other developments ending in a court case which was brought personally (and they got away with not paying the full costs of the case). I never called them NIMBY's either, self centred tossers, but not NIMBY's. And yes, if it doesn't affect someone it isn't any of their business - but if they were fighting a wider campaign against the further development of Swindon then it obviously would be the business of any resident of Swindon. In the case of the front garden development they weren't fighting against anything other than the front garden development. I don't give a toss about Swindon expanding. But the people that do need to start taking action long before it gets to the planning permission stage as at that point it is already game over as the houses have to go somewhere. Title: Re: Development at Coate Post by: walker on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 19:49:41 I bet PD will be there. Where did you get that message from , mate?i only ask cos Felicity Cobb was my teacher at school! |