I am meant to writing a piece for my uni course on the ground redevelopment, and more to the point, Swindon Borough Councils opinions and involvement, and would really appreciate some input.
I've a had look at the trust website and thats a great source of information from their point of view, and the adver archive has a lot from the club, but i'm struggling to find some some quotes/soundbites outlining the councils stand on the ground. If i remember correctly Justin Tomlinson was quite outspoken about the issue.
I'm sure alot of you guys on here know a fair amount on the issue, and I would appreciate any links etc. regarding the council.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
The council's stance is pretty straightforward - they're actually quite keen to help any SANE and LEGAL redevelopment plan for the CG as they do "get" that the club is a benefit to the community and that a redeveloped ground could be a massive boost to leisure/civic pride/local economy etc etc. What they're not prepared to countenance are the various loony schemes (in some cases of dubious legality) that have been put forward in recent years along the lines of "You give us £25m worth of public land and we'll build a load of houses on it and sell them to make ourselves a pile of cash".
If you're looking for direct quotes, I'd suggest your best bet would probably just be to ask the councillors concerned directly.
rbluh@swindon.gov.uk is email address for Rod Bluh (council leader);
justint@tb-marketing.com is for Justin Tomlinson (lead member for leisure and recreation - ie this falls within his cabinet remit).
If you're looking for an "opposition" view, Bob Wright is one of the Labour councillors who represents the Central Ward
bob.wright.gov@ntlworld.com and it's worth emailing Anne Snelgrove (Labour MP for Swindon South) who has taken a keen interest throughout
annesnelgrovemp@parliament.uk.
Wouldn't expect a reply from any of them till early next week though - suspect they're all a little preoccupied with the elections tomorrow!