Ridgeway Farm Developement

[fatbasher]

OMFG Just seen the Adver news.

This has been given outline planning permission. Swinley drive will be like the fucking Monaco GP. It's bad enough with the pissing test centre around the corner and every other car is a L driver.

So pissed off with this. As a dyed in the wool consrvative voter Eric Pickles can tell his two conservative MP's to start looking for another job I for one will not be voting for them again.

Fuck you I'm not a NIMBY, just in case you thought it would be a wheeze to post it. This is soooooo wrong on so many levels it's unbelieveable.

[Samdy Gray]

Granted it'll add traffic to adjacent estates, but the worst of it will be on the already congested Mead Way. This development adds further weight for the need to complete the Purton - Iffley relief road.

[jonny72]

Surely it can't help that the area is under the control of Wiltshire Council rather than Swindon Council. Wasn't there another development approved by WC nearby that SC opposed due to the impact but there was nothing they could do about it?

Isn't it time to redraw the boundaries controlled by SC to take in the developed areas and a bit more for growth?

Not sure you can really blame Pickles for this. The developers would have kept on appealing if they lost. Besides, the real time to stop things like this was years ago when the future development plans (such as housing requirements) where put in place not just before they build them.

[fatbasher]

Surely it can't help that the area is under the control of Wiltshire Council rather than Swindon Council. Wasn't there another development approved by WC nearby that SC opposed due to the impact but there was nothing they could do about it?

Isn't it time to redraw the boundaries controlled by SC to take in the developed areas and a bit more for growth?

Not sure you can really blame Pickles for this. The developers would have kept on appealing if they lost. Besides, the real time to stop things like this was years ago when the future development plans (such as housing requirements) where put in place not just before they build them.

As i understand it the future developement plans did not include this site certainly for SC, possibily for Wilts also. SC will get no benefit in the return of council tax. The only thing they can extract is section 106 money and other concessions. The impact of this will be horrendous for Peatmoor and West Swindon.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Is this the land the opposite side of peatmoor on the same side of the road that the old forresters pub is on? Not sure why they keep building around that area. Mead Way cant cope with the traffic volumes as it is.

[fatbasher]

Is this the land the opposite side of peatmoor on the same side of the road that the old forresters pub is on? Not sure why they keep building around that area. Mead Way cant cope with the traffic volumes as it is.

Yes and that was one of the key features of the objection.

[Ardiles]

The (oddly named) Purton-Iffley Link - Sparcells to Barnfield really - is surely a done deal now.  There's  no way they can not build it.  Strengthens the case for opening a surburban station on the Swindon-Gloucester line as well.

[Ardiles]

And this is why the development got the go ahead.  Lead story this morning in the Telegraph.

Telegraph: Government Minister Warns we must Develop a Third More Land to Meet Housing Demand

Mr Boles suggests that people who oppose more development are being selfish for denying adequate space for their children and grandchildren.

'It’s my job to make the arguments to these people [those who oppose development] that if they carry on writing letters their kids are never going to get a place with a garden to bring up their grandkids.'

Definitely two sides to this argument.  All too easy to frame this as a battle between innocent residents and 'greedy developers' - but there is a massive housing shortage in this country.  It's already the norm for adults in their late 20s to live with their parents.  Thin end of the wedge.

[Batch]

Definitely two sides to this argument.  All too easy to frame this as a battle between innocent residents and 'greedy developers' - but there is a massive housing shortage in this country.

Whilst that's true the biggest issue here is lack of planning on surrounding infrastructure. Not just new facilities, but a blatant disregard for the existing road network.

Have you ever tried to get from Haydon to junction 16 in the morning?
  - Cheney Manor + Bruce Street bridges...screwed
  - Thamesdown drive 2 lanes>1....screwed
  - Mead Way ...screwed
  - Approach to Mannington from Shaw...screwed
  - Approach to Blagrove from Shaw....screwed

Its inevitable "rush hour" will be slower, but there seems no though has gone in to how the roads will cope with yet more traffic on them.

[Ardiles]

Completely agree, Batch.  Believe me, I really don't want to concrete over vast new tracts of virgin countryside - I'm just mindful that without releasing significant new land for development, the future is looking very bleak (and cramped) for just about everyone who doesn't already own a nice big pre-1990s house.  (Pre-1990s, because that was when builders stopped building houses that were big enough for people to live in, generally.)  There is a housing crisis - and today's headlines are just about the first time I've seen a politician appear to take it seriously.

And having accepted that significant new development is going to be necessary, I definitely agree with you that the new development has to be supported by the necessary infrastructure to go with it.  The 'Purton-Iffley' Link was actually in the original plans when North Swindon was on the drawing board back in the early 1990s.  It's a scandal that it still is not built - and the grinding congestion on Mead Way and in other places today is a direct consequence of the cost cutting that took place back then.  I'd go further, and insist that the Ridgeway Farm development comes with a brand new train station on the line that runs past it...but that won't happen.

[Samdy Gray]

Have you ever tried to get from Haydon to junction 16 in the morning?

I know what you mean. Just trying to get out of West Swindon in general is a nightmare. Trying to get from Westlea to Mannington Roundabout is the first half a mile of my commute in the mornings but also most congested. Usually takes around 10 minutes to crawl out of Westlea down to the roundabout. Once I'm on Great Western Way it's plain sailing for the rest of my journey.

[Arriba]

Swindon is too big already. Infrastructure is a joke after the mindless building of homes that has been done up  to now.

[pumbaa]

What housing crisis? Its reported (allegedly) that there are 170,000 vacant properties. Someone may wish to substantiate or deny that if you can be bothered. That may be a drop in the ocean for all I know, but surely some (or most) of the problem is caused by the lack of affordable housing. Surely this is the problem that the govenment needs to address, but there is a much bigger picture in play.

I agree with all points made about infrastructure. Its a joke. Three classic examples of where its lacking.

1. The A350 from the M4 J17 to Chippenham, by the Golf Club. Why oh why oh fucking why does that small 200yd section of single carriageway still remain. How difficult can it be to dual it? There is definitely room without negatively impacting the area (they have already rebuilt the golf clubhouse and building house on that plot, so why not?). Equally, dualling the whole western bypass from the golf club all the way to at least Sainsbury's should have been done at the outset.

2. The A370 exit from Weston-super-Mare to J21 of the M5. My daily commute route. An absolute recipe for instigating bad driving behaviors. I live 2 miles from J21, and it can take me 45 minutes to do that journey at peak times in the morning. Hence why I leave home at 0630 (and its still congested then!) or work from home. At least an 'improvement package' have been approved by the government.....yeah OK......

3. M4 Junction 11. Great design (I might be being slightly sarcastic here; I know which lane I need to be in, but I'm in the minority by far) and remains an utter clusterfuck when every wanker in his luxury saloon and fancy cufflinks block the yellow hatchings.

Obviosuly infrasturcture also concerns the provisions of schools, health care, shops (cue Tesco's), public transport provision (as mentioned). Its all totally disjointed and fucked up.

[Batch]

And having accepted that significant new development is going to be necessary, I definitely agree with you that the new development has to be supported by the necessary infrastructure to go with it.  The 'Purton-Iffley' Link was actually in the original plans when North Swindon was on the drawing board back in the early 1990s.  It's a scandal that it still is not built - and the grinding congestion on Mead Way and in other places today is a direct consequence of the cost cutting that took place back then.  I'd go further, and insist that the Ridgeway Farm development comes with a brand new train station on the line that runs past it...but that won't happen.

That's what I mean, I'm not anti-development but the developers should not be allowed to place one brick down until they put the roads in place. Too late now, the fankenhousing of Thamesdown drive is done. Any new developers aren't going to stump up when previous ones didn't.

I know what you mean. Just trying to get out of West Swindon in general is a nightmare. Trying to get from Westlea to Mannington Roundabout is the first half a mile of my commute in the mornings but also most congested. Usually takes around 10 minutes to crawl out of Westlea down to the roundabout. Once I'm on Great Western Way it's plain sailing for the rest of my journey.

Today was a good day:
My house->Great Western Way this morning...25 minutes
Great Western Way-> Chippenham office...20 minutes

And the dual carriageway congestion from Motorway>Chippenham added 5 mins on the second part

By comparison, the congestion journey home (after 6:30) takes about 25 mins total (shhh, don't tell the resident copper).

[Sippo]

Whatever happened to the link between thamesdown drive and the great western way by b&q? That would relieve traffic.