Page 27 - Gary Sumner News Today

THE future of the former Toys R Us store on Oxford Road is still uncertain as interest from businesses who may want to redevelop the site has died down. More than three years on from the retailer’s collapse into administration in March 2018, concrete plans for a new owner to take over the huge warehouse have yet to materialise. In October 2019, Home Bargains submitted a planning application to move into the space near the White Hart roundabout. At the time, its parent company TJ Morris ...

Up to 3,000 homes could be built on the edge of Swindon if a land promoter and builder has its way. The company – Mactaggart & Mickel – is eyeing up green fields on the edge of Haydon Wick around Pry Farm, between Swindon and Purton. It has written to both Wiltshire and Swindon Borough councils suggesting the land could be added to each authority’s Local Plan as being suitable for 3,000 houses. But the lack of benefit to Swindon compared with the price in terms of damage of wildli...

Clockwise from top left: New boundary plans for South Swindon and North Swindon, Gary Sumner, Wichelstowe and Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson PEOPLE living in villages to the east of the town could be moved to a new parliamentary constituency under plans for a shake-up of England’s electoral map. The proposal was revealed by the Boundary Commission for England yesterday. If it comes to fruition then Wanborough, Wroughton and Wichelstowe and the surrounding villages – all inside the...

VILLAGES near Swindon are seeing the next stage of the Openreach fibre optic broadband project begin.

Swindon wins again on Eastern Village infrastructure cash Swindon Borough Council has scooped another tranche of roads cash for the planned New Eastern Villages development, with the Department for Transport (DfT) allocating a further £11.6m to supporting works. In total, the Southern Connector Road project is estimated to cost £30.5m, with Homes England providing a further £18.9m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund, on top of the DfT cash. The project includes a new access road between the...

Councillor Tim Swinyard SWINDONS new Conservative cabinet has two new members and one entirely new post – a representative for levelling up. After a successful local election and winning a leadership challenge this week, council leader David Renard has made something of a reshuffle. His former deputy Russell Holland – who challenged him for the top job – leaves the cabinet. His responsibilities for finance go to Keith Williams, who retains his role as the cabinet member for climat...

Councillor Gary Sumner and the New Eastern Villages plans The new £30m new road being built to connect the houses in the New Eastern Villages expansion to the Commonhead roundabout and M4 will be built without any cost to the Swindon taxpayer. The government has confirmed today it will be paying £11.6m toward the project from Department for Transport funds and the Local Growth Funds. That goes with £19m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund announced in November 2019 by Homes England, cov...

THE news more than 1,300 Amazon jobs are set to be created in Swindon this year has been greeted with delight by councillors. The online giant will occupy the enormous new plant being built at Symmetry Park just off the A420 on the eastern edge of the town and announced yesterday it would be hiring 10,000 new staff across the UK. That includes at least 1,300 jobs at new fulfilment centres in Swindon, Gateshead and Dartford. The news also provided the first confirmation Amazon would be u...

15 May 2021 multimillion-pound investment will help fund new road linking New Eastern Villages development with existing local road network planned works include new roundabout, signalised junction and footway – all of which will ease congestion and improve local journey times funding reiterates government commitment to levelling up transport infrastructure across the country as we build back better Swindon will benefit from a multimillion-pound road scheme to provide fast journeys between th...

CONSTRUCTION work on the new southern access road to Wichelstowe under the M4 will move to stage four next week. The narrowed lanes near Junction 16 will be restored back to their normal alignment and the lowered 50mph speed limit will be bumped back up to 70mph on Saturday. This traffic management system was in place while the north and south entrances to the underpass were constructed. Now that the entrances are complete, the excavation of the underpass and the construction of the new...