Following recent consultations across the Town Centre cluster a number of issues have been repeatedly mentioned as priorities for residents.
Eastcott
In the Eastcott area of the Cluster most concerns expressed by local people are around the following issues:
Residents parking
Double yellow lines and parking issues
The number of shared houses and houses of multiple occupation
Cleanliness and appearance of the neighbourhood
Places for young people to play
Queens Park
In the Queens Park area most concerns raised were around the following issues:
Anti social behaviour in Queens Park
Cleanliness of the local neighbourhood
Speeding on Groundwell road and Drove road
Anti social behaviour in the rear alleys
Broad Green
In the Broad Green area concerns were raised about the following issues:
Lack of Community facilities
Parking and Double yellow lines
Cleanliness of the local neighbourhood
Anti Social behaviour
In other parts of central ward concerns were raised about the following issues:
Future use of Central Community Centre
Places for young people to play
Anti social behaviour in Farringdon road park
Cleanliness of the local neighbourhood
Parking issues
Anti social behaviour at The Parade
Others issues have also been identified ranging from not enough street lights through to the number of empty buildings in the town centre.
We would like to ask all residents living in the town centre cluster to share their views about their neighbourhood and think about how these might be resolved working together to provide a sustainable solution.
If you would like to be involved or make suggestions please follow the link below to add your comments.
I was appointed Cluster lead for the town centre cluster for the Connecting People, Connecting places programme in May this I was delighted. I realised that this would be a huge challenge, but welcomed the opportunity to help improve our town.
One of the first things that I had to do was to speak with all the elected members for the cluster, which is central and eastcott wards. Part of the process was for the elected members to appoint a cluster chair. Cllr. David Wood was nominated and appointed as the town centre cluster chair.
In July we held a meeting at the Civic Offices and invited parents of young people to talk about and discuss issues around access and provision to local schools. Despite a relatively small number of people attending, the meeting was a success and from these discussions the policy for siblings in a school was given greater priority. This will help parents with two children have greater opportunity to their second child attend the same school as the first child.
We also saw the Street Athletics take place in Broad Street on a very wet day, but there was a really good turnout and many young people participating in the 60 yard races, which saw a number of participants going onto the national finals in Manchester later in the year. This was a really good event and Darren Campbell and former Olympic champion Linford Christie confirmed that they would like to come back to Swindon next year to continue with the games next year.
In August we attended the summer fayre of Queens Park Community Council at Queens park. At this we spoke with numerous local residents who shared their views about local issues and what they perceived as local priorities. From this issues such as litter, anti social behaviour, loud music / noise, lack of youth play facilities, parking, houses of multiple occupation, etc were all raised as issues affecting local people.
Throughout September I visited a number of local community groups and met with local people to discuss local issues, this included Eastcott Community Council, Queens Park Community Council, Broad Green Community Council, Great Western Residents Association, hearing about local concerns and local priorities .
In October we organised a drop in event in the town centre at Wharf Green and The Parade. Really good event with lots of residents telling all the officers present from the Council, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue service and Wiltshire Constabulary with ward members. The feedback from this event was again around issues relating to the local environment, policing and issues around anti social behaviour, parking issues, town centre regeneration.
I also attended the launch of the community strategy for the Broad Green area, this was the culmination of the past couple of years of discussing local priorities with local people and compiling these priorities into a strategy for the neighbourhood for the next three years. This was a retally well attended event and was also an acknowledgement for the young people who participated in the Street Athletics games earlier in the summer.
I met a number of people at this meeting who wished to discuss issues relating to their faiths and religious beliefs and some difficulties that they have been experiencing, one comment I have received a number times is that they do not know who to speak with or where to go. This is a comment I have taken back with me and an issue we clearly need to try and make this more
Last week we started local engagements events with an engagement event on Eastcott Road, comments received back was in keeping with feedback we had already received around litter, fly tipping, play facilities, parking and local policing.
We will be continuing this form of local engagement over the next couple of weeks in the Eastcott area with an event at Groundwell Rd on Tuesday 10th November and in the central ward area later in the evening in the Manchester Road area followed by an event on Farringdon Road on Friday 13th November in the afternoon.
The advantages for local businesses and residents are huge as even the time-limited free access available each day will still provide unprecedented access to information, learning and communication. The opportunities it will open up are vast.
For many years the need to save money has meant that the council, the police and other public sector agencies have had fewer buildings, further from where people actually live. No wonder satisfaction with government is so low when it is literally, so remote.
The Wi-Fi mesh will make it easier for staff to come to the community – using temporary drop-in centres in local shops, community centres, libraries and schools. It will become less and less important where a member of staff is based as using the phone or email will be easier for them to respond to people. The mesh will also make it easier for residents to contact their local public services, with cheaper phone calls using voice over internet protocols and good access to email and websites.
Of course, none of this will ever replace face to face meetings, and these will always remain a core part of what we do. But the more services we can deliver electronically, the more money we will have to put into front line services themselves.
Our Wi-Fi mesh will help us achieve that.
Cllr Roderick Bluh, Leader of Swindon Borough Council
It’s a good bet that if you’re reading this, you’ve got some very clear views on what would make your bit of Swindon a better place to live.
Often it’s the simplest things that can irritate the most, like the drain that’s always blocked, the graffiti that isn’t cleared away, or the dog mess in the local park. Or maybe things would be improved by changes.
Fixing things like that can make a real difference to how people feel about their neighbourhood, but sometimes they can be the most difficult thing for the council to get right.
It’s not always easy for us to understand what really matters to people in the places where they live, which is why we want to take the conversations between the council and local residents to a new and more local level.
My hope is that Connecting People, Connecting Places will change the nature of the relationship between the council, its partners, and the people of Swindon for the better. We’re only at the very start of the process but the early signs are very encouraging.
It’s been very interesting to see the different priorities that are already emerging in the different clusters, following discussions with local people and community representatives.
The whole purpose of the programme is to get away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach, and the fact that we’re already seeing variations in what people want depending on the area of the Borough they live in illustrates the point.
The elected chairs of each cluster are able to organise the way the things work in their area depending on what suits everyone best – the clusters won’t all operate in the same way, which is as it should be.
To start things off, here’s my take on Connecting People, Connecting Places and what it means for Swindon.
Councillor Brian Mattock, Cabinet Member for Connecting People, Connecting Places
