It has come to ORA's attention that the proposed £10 million+ improvements to the Bruce Street bridges will be part funded from the Haydon 3 developer money (this money was the Priory Vale part of the Northern Development Area). The legal agreement originally had, ORA believe, about £17 million to be shared between the Bruce Street bridges and the Purton/Iffley Road link. However, the legal agreement was renegotiated in 2008, when our North Swindon MP was on cabinet (and would have needed to have had his approval as an Abbey Meads ward councillor on cabinet), and several million pounds was, ORA understand, signed away.
This has meant that unless substantial monies are made available to this area again through large-scale development that the northern bypass is, effectively, dead. This will mean that any development on the North Western border of Swindon will have to use local roads, including Oakhurst Way. The local community programme at Swindon Borough Council called OneSwindon has said that residents should 'like where they live'. With the traffic increase from Tadpole Farm and other developments in the area the question might be, "Are the Council supporting communities liking where they live?"
