Housing Development In East Swindon

It was very interesting to note that at a recent Full Council meeting the local councillors in North Swindon supported a motion put forward by Cllr Dale Heenan* that infrastructure should be place before any development in East Swindon goes ahead.

In the Swindon Advertiser (22nd September 2012) Cllr Dale Heenan said, "Oxford Road cannot possibly take all that traffic.  We don't want it going down Covingham...We need a new link road."

* Cabinet member for strategic planning & sustainability

Graham Mack Breakfast Show - Tadpole Farm Approval

Oakhurst resident, Steph Exell, appeared on the Graham Mack breakfast show this morning and rebutted comments made by Dale Heenan * - where were the ward councillors from Priory Vale? - about the approval of the Tadpole Farm development on 11th September 2012.

He believes that Swindon is excellent at meeting school place demand.  However, parents in Oakhurst may not agree with him.  Dale Heenan spouts out figures without backing them up with fact.  Let's get down to facts campaigner, Kareen Boyd, has demonstrated that the education figures do not add up.

When it came to the question about Oakhurst Way, he was totally unable to clarify how much money would be spent defending the local road from becoming nothing more than a major rat-run.

There were some glib comments about flooding and solving the problem by building more houses on boggy land.

Objective facts carry far more weight than vacuous blather so why do politicians use one rather than the other?

* Cabinet member for Strategic Planning and Sustainability

TADPOLE FARM FINALLY APPROVED - OAKHURST RESIDENTS KEPT IN THE DARK

On the 11^th September 2012 ORA learned from a twitter account hosted by a consultant involved in the Tadpole Farm application that the s.106 agreement had been signed off by all parties concerned.  At lunch time we were able to print off the signed agreement from the Council’s website.  It was outrageous that no-one had contacted the residents of Oakhurst to let them know what was happening.
 
According to sources in the media the local councillors were already spinning this issue or unavailable for comment.

ORA had to print off scores of pages from the Council’s planning portal to drill into the detail.  However, after much drilling the residents of Oakhurst will be disappointed to learn that there is no ground-breaking, earth-shaking improvement to what the original agreement said.

ORA’s interpretation is that there is nothing new to tell you from three months of negotiations.