SAVE COATE WATER FROM THE DEVELOPERS

Swindon Borough Council has revised the draft Local Plan to 2011 that originally directed new development to the Northern Development Area, the Front Garden [Southern Development Area] and town centre sites.

However, the revised town plan has been substantially altered to add the entire remaining area of countryside [a 2 square kilometre plot] next to Coate Water nature reserve for development. The boundaries of the urban area are being redrawn to include the farmland bordered by the M4 motorway, the A419 trunk road, the Marlborough Road and hugging the eastern and southern edges of Coate Water Site of Special Scientific Interest [SSSI] around to Broome Manor golf course. Whilst it is proposed to leave buffer land next to the nationally protected nature reserve undeveloped, there is no indication what size this might be - English Nature and the Environment Agency would advise. We all now how readily buffer land is sacrificed to development at a later date.

The land take at Coate is divided into:

at least 60ha for the University Campus

35ha of employment land in the south-east area of the site

up to 5ha for hospital expansion to the west [already covered by deposit draft policy CF1]

This leaves about 96 ha for up to 2,000 dwellings, shops, community facilities "including a primary school" and a small increase to the Park and Ride site at Commonhead roundabout.

Who is driving this development? and the University campus

No doubt, this entire stitch-up is driven by Carillion (formerly Tarmac) who had an option to buy up all the farmland at Coate when the hospital site was up for grabs. Presumably, the university campus would be build under the Private Finance Initiative [PFI] and Corillion would gain again. Bath University already proposes to have an Arts Faculty in the town and they are still committed to using the Oakfield campus. The New Swindon Company supports a central location for the university in order to assist in the regeneration of the town centre. What is of concern is that should the campus be approved at Coate, the ancillary sites could be sold off at a premium and any buffer land left between buildings and Coate Water SSSI could be targeted for more development.

Employment Land

The large employment land allocation has been justified on the grounds that other areas are being excluded from the draft Plan for other uses. For example, employment land at Groundwell near Motorola and at Pipers Way are suggested for other uses such as houses and hotels/recreation as well as employment. However, planners admit to an over allocation of 21 hectares of employment land above Structure Plan requirements that are included as a “comfort” zone!

Housing land

There is no justification for building houses at Coate on the grounds that the "Front Garden" [SDA] won’t be ready in time. There is no shortage of building land in Swindon for new houses or employment use. The Northern Development Area [NDA] has planning permission for a further 5,000+ houses. The SDA will provide for 4,500 homes. Urban sites make up another 2,300. If the year 2011 target of building 1,467 houses is achieved each year from now (actual building rate averages at 800 new homes), there is already nearly four years supply in the NDA alone. It was always anticipated that house-building at the SDA wouldn’t start until about 2006 in order to phase development. This is to ensure that the NDA was nearing completion and that urban renewal took priority before another greenfield site was developed. This strategy is in accordance with Wiltshire Structure Plan 2011 policy DP10: "At Swindon, the northern development area should be the main location for development of new housing, employment land, associated shopping and services.” This commitment is repeated in draft Local Plan policy H3 with regard to housing provision. Paragraph 5.3.15 of the draft Local Plan says: “It is important to stress that the focus for housing provision for the Plan period remains the NDA, and other provision is supplementary to this”.

Other Environmental and Historic Features

Foothills of the North Wessex Downs AONB: Located in the foothills of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the character and quality of the landscape at Coate has received some special protection [Policy ENV10]. This designation would now be removed in order to accommodate development at Coate.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

The Policy for developing land next to Sites of Special Scientific Interest [Policy ENV16] is being weakened [obviously to accommodate development at Coate] in that nature reserves of international importance are now deemed more important than nationally designated ones. As the UK has been criticised for failing to identify sufficient ecological sites of international importance, it has been recognised that protection of wildlife on SSSIs will play a crucial international role too. For example, Coate Water SSSI received its designation as a national wildlife reserve by virtue of the presence of notified species that include wildfowl and birds that are adversely affected by human intrusion including light pollution and aquatic plants that are readily destroyed as a result of water pollution. The bird sanctuary at Coate Water is next to the proposed development area. Those familiar with Sevenfield Nature Reserve will be aware of the increased contamination of the brooks that used to support large numbers of water voles until the Northern Development started to take shape nearby.

Local Nature Reserve

Those involved in opposing the hospital development will be aware of the tragic loss of about a dozen badgers who were killed on the road within days of the destruction of their setts and foraging areas in the Marlborough Road copse. The foraging area required to sustain badger life is extensive. Day House Copse is a small local nature reserve that would be excluded from development but insufficient in size to provide sufficient foraging land for resident badgers.

Archaeological features

There are several areas of archaelogical importance along Day House Lane.

Historic significance

The countryside around Day House Lane not only requires protection in its own right, as it is the last vestige of countryside left that is accessible to people of Swindon, it also has historic connections with the well-known writer Richard Jefferies. Jefferies grew up at Coate about 150 years ago and was famous for his books on country matters along with his popular children’s story “Bevis”. His writing was influenced by his love of the landscape around Coate Water and by the Downs. Many of the landmarks are mentioned in his books and his home is now a museum that attracted a record number of visitors this year.