Kevin Leakey

Having researched all the 1928 - 30 Adver's held by the Local Studies Dept. at Swindon Central Library - I can confirm there are no images of the Autodrome. All the 1928 meetings are reported, although not all of the riders are named. I don't know if there were any meeting in 1929, if there were, the Adver didn't cover them. The Adver covered a couple of meetings in 1930, when a new promotion took over. The Autodrome was renamed the 'Swindon Speedway Stadium' that year. Again, if there were any other meetings at the track in 1930, then the Adver didn't report on them. I don't know if there were any pics printed in the 'Borough Press' - a Swindon sports paper that ran from 1903 to 1936, but it's possible, as Leslie Newman, who's Father Thomas owned the paper, raced in the first meeting at the Autodrome. (he also raced in local grass tracks and hill climbs, and competed in the 1934, 35, 36 and 37 Isle of Man Senior GPs). Unfortunately I've only ever seen one copy of the Borough Press, a 1927 edition, so it was too early to cover the Autodrome. There must be some images of the place somewhere.

Initial thoughts on stadium plans, purely from the speedway angle – if the new stadium is built, and the speedway track is the size and shape, and banked as shown in the plans, it looks like it will be a good size and shape for racing. The frontage/ glazed viewing area of the main stand is considerably smaller than the Abbey stand and looks to be only about the same as the current restaurant area. This will be split between the bar and restaurant, greatly reducing the sponsors view of racing from their seats, and for anyone else that prefers to watch from behind glass. Assuming the the ref and timekeeper are to be located in the glass box at the end of the stand, it looks like they will be sat behind the start/finish line, and not too high up either. Noise emissions seem to have been studied in some detail. If permission is given, maximum noise levels will be set by the Borough and have to be closely monitored. If the average noise limit is exceeded at more than 3 consecutive events, a written report will have to be submitted setting out how further noise control will be put in place before the next event. Maximum crowd size is a concern, as is parking space numbers and the travel plan. I'm still sceptical as to if this will go ahead, based on the previous track record of Gaming International and the simple fact that housing over the whole site will bring in a far quicker and no doubt far bigger return financially than the stadium ever will (even if they have to wait long enough to overturn the current planning condition about no more houses until a new stadium is built). At the end of the day the Govt. believes that the delivery of housing is top priority. The outline planning application, approved in 2007, was for a new stadium and demolition of the Abbey. This latest application is for reserved matters to show all the fine details of the new stadium project, but does not include the demolition of the Abbey. I was under the impression that normal practice would be to submit this under reserved matters. As yet a separate demolition application has not been submitted either. May be they don't need to do so or don't actually want to demolish it yet? However, seeing a detailed application being submitted has to be looked upon as positive, so one can only hope it is genuinely a step in the right direction and not part of a long game.