Swindon Robins 2020

[charlie17]

So another much vaunted project in the hands of Swindon Borough Council is not going to happen. The much anticipated indoor ski slope.

Along with the new football stadium,  which has been talked about for the last 30 years and  the renovation of the few historic buildings which Swindon has, it ain’t happening.

What price the Speedway Stadium? You can release as many computer generated pictures you like. 
 

 

 

[charlie17]

So another much vaunted project in the hands of Swindon Borough Council is not going to happen. The much anticipated indoor ski slope.

Along with the new football stadium,  which has been talked about for the last 30 years and  the renovation of the few historic buildings which Swindon has, it ain’t happening.

What price the Speedway Stadium? You can release as many computer generated pictures you like. 
 

 

 

[charlie17]

So another much vaunted project in the hands of Swindon Borough Council is not going to happen. The much anticipated indoor ski slope.

Along with the new football stadium,  which has been talked about for the last 30 years and  the renovation of the few historic buildings which Swindon has, it ain’t happening.

What price the Speedway Stadium? You can release as many computer generated pictures you like. 
 

 

 

[A ORLOV]

37 minutes ago, charlie17 said:

So another much vaunted project in the hands of Swindon Borough Council is not going to happen. The much anticipated indoor ski slope.

Along with the new football stadium,  which has been talked about for the last 30 years and  the renovation of the few historic buildings which Swindon has, it ain’t happening.

What price the Speedway Stadium? You can release as many computer generated pictures you like. 
 

 

 

The ski slope was a project that idiot Heenan is responsible for, just like the state of the town centre redevelopment, yet nothing happens.

Edited February 17, 2020 by A ORLOV

[MattK]

48 minutes ago, charlie17 said:

So another much vaunted project in the hands of Swindon Borough Council is not going to happen. The much anticipated indoor ski slope.

Along with the new football stadium,  which has been talked about for the last 30 years and  the renovation of the few historic buildings which Swindon has, it ain’t happening.

What price the Speedway Stadium? You can release as many computer generated pictures you like. 

How is the North Star Snoasis "in the hands" of SBC? It is a private development being built and funded with private money. Or not as the case may be.

I'm all in favour of holding the council to account where appropriate, but I'm not sure what more they can do to move this forwards.

[charlie17]

So Matt K are you saying if the speedway stadium does not go ahead SBC are not culpable at all and it will all be down to the developer?

[orion]

1 hour ago, charlie17 said:

So Matt K are you saying if the speedway stadium does not go ahead SBC are not culpable at all and it will all be down to the developer?

The council are much more culpable for the speedway stadium for many reasons

[MattK]

1 hour ago, charlie17 said:

So Matt K are you saying if the speedway stadium does not go ahead SBC are not culpable at all and it will all be down to the developer?

Ultimately, the developers are culpable. It's their land and their development, their plan etc. They have chosen to build the houses first, endlessly tinker with the stadium plans and so on. The council should have put better checks in place to prevent the houses going up and no work on the stadium.

However, if you want a more comprehensive answer, the land around the stadium was designated as commercial use in the North Swindon Plan and bought by Motorola. Of course, Motorola not only didn't develop the land, but moved out of Swindon altogether. In reality, the council shouldn't have granted permission for houses on the land around the stadium, but money talks and local councils are under huge pressure from central government to build housing, so it was probably inevitable.

[charlie17]

Dress it up with jargon as much as you like. We were told at the start the new old stadium would not be demolished before the new one was operational. 
With the developers previous record everybody with half a brain could see this situation happening.

This was plainly a lie and SBC are 100% are at fault.

As far as the snow dome how many thousands of pounds was spent on a feasibility study , planning etc by the council?

Surely one of the first questions to be asked by the council is whether the developer has the money to go ahead with the project. If not then , as has been proved, it’s a complete waste of time. 
That’s basic economics.

[charlie17]

Matt.

You don’t happen to work for SBC by any chance?

[MattK]

1 hour ago, charlie17 said:

Dress it up with jargon as much as you like. We were told at the start the new old stadium would not be demolished before the new one was operational. 
With the developers previous record everybody with half a brain could see this situation happening.This was plainly a lie and SBC are 100% are at fault.

Who told you that? The local MP? There's a well know saying, how do you know when a politician is lying ?You can see their lips move. As I said, the council should have been smarter and put better checks in place, but even the limitation of no more than 200 houses being populated before contracts were signed was easily side stepped.

However, SBC are not 100% at fault. Gaming International are ultimately at fault as they had no intention of ever building the new stadium.

2 hours ago, charlie17 said:

As far as the snow dome how many thousands of pounds was spent on a feasibility study , planning etc by the council?

Surely one of the first questions to be asked by the council is whether the developer has the money to go ahead with the project. If not then , as has been proved, it’s a complete waste of time. 
That’s basic economics.

I don't know, how much did the council spend on feasibility studies, planning etc.?

Development companies don't have £80m sat in the bank ready to invest. Once they get planning permission they go out to their investors and raise the capital requires to complete a project. If you look on Seven Capital's web site you will see they have a proven track record in retail, commercial and leisure developments. As I said, the council deserve criticism for many things, but I don't know how anyone can point the finger at them for the lack of progress.

44 minutes ago, charlie17 said:

Matt.

You don’t happen to work for SBC by any chance?

Good Lord no.

[charlie17]

Matt you make a very sound educated argument and I fully respect you for that.

i think we agree SBC has been shafted by Gaming International but we are just the average man in the street and everybody said from the beginning that this would happen. You cannot blame the developer because ultimately there plan has worked, they had no intention of building the stadium.
The council have let themselves be pushed around and bullied and for that reason they are 100% culpable.

So the snow dome was never going to happen. If I go to buy a house I need to have finances in place before they will even consider me.

This company may be very reputable but what it boils down to is the fact that it was pie in the sky.

You cannot go into a project and say we are ready to start but by the way we are 80 million pounds short! 

 

 

 

[hyabb17]

Swindon vs Leszno details later this week - Home match could be 18th March which would be pretty good. 

[Grachan]

Is the main issue not that planning has been granted which should, at least, keep the current stadium secure even if a new one doesn't get built?

I don't live in Swindon, so I may be wrong, but, surely, the council have done their job on this. Without them Swindon Speedway would probably have closed down 10 years ago.

I don't know if a new stadium will ever get built, but the continuation of Swindon has to be the main priority.

[charlie17]

Totally agree Grachan.

There is already a consultation in progress about the noise created by the speedway affecting the houses that have been built next door to track.

The writing is on the wall for the old stadium we need the new one built for speedway to survive I am afraid.

[RobMcCaffery]

23 hours ago, charlie17 said:

Totally agree Grachan.

There is already a consultation in progress about the noise created by the speedway affecting the houses that have been built next door to track.

The writing is on the wall for the old stadium we need the new one built for speedway to survive I am afraid.

But it's in the same place!

[MattK]

1 hour ago, RobMcCaffery said:

But it's in the same place!

But that's not the place it was supposed to be in - as in the original plans, for which the houses were built, the stadium was supposed to move.

[RobMcCaffery]

On 2/19/2020 at 2:46 PM, MattK said:

But that's not the place it was supposed to be in - as in the original plans, for which the houses were built, the stadium was supposed to move.

Yes, of course it was but that's irrelevant. The two stadium profiles overlapped and I cannot see how a few yards will produce significant noise differences. 

 

I strongly suspect that the people buying houses were told not to worry since the stadium was on its way out and now they realise that's not the case. They were foolish if they believed it. No doubt if this goes legal the truth will emerge. 

[MattK]

39 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said:

I strongly suspect that the people buying houses were told not to worry since the stadium was on its way out and now they realise that's not the case. They were foolish if they believed it. No doubt if this goes legal the truth will emerge. 

I think you may be on the money here. Or at least told the stadium was "moving" without being told precisely where to or how far from its current position.

[Grachan]

56 minutes ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Yes, of course it was but that's irrelevant. The two stadium profiles overlapped and I cannot see how a few yards will produce significant noise differences. 

 

I strongly suspect that the people buying houses were told not to worry since the stadium was on its way out and now they realise that's not the case. They were foolish if they believed it. No doubt if this goes legal the truth will emerge. 

 

15 minutes ago, MattK said:

I think you may be on the money here. Or at least told the stadium was "moving" without being told precisely where to or how far from its current position.

Actually, the website for the original sales for the homes listed the speedway stadium as a local amenity and a positive selling point. I know, because I looked.