New vision for Swindon pitched at House of Lords

A new vision for Swindon has been pitched at the House of Lords to help the Wiltshire town adapt to its growing population.

Swindon Borough Council hosted an event in London on Monday to explain the reinvention of the town centre to investors.

The Heart of Swindon vision includes up to 8,000 new homes and amenities to support a Swindon population growing much faster than the national average.

Lord Michael Wills, a former MP in the town, said: "Swindon's always been an extraordinary place for inventing itself and reinventing itself."

"The world is changing very fast and this is about Swindon taking advantage of that," Lord Wills added.

"People are very interested and so they should be, this is a fantastic opportunity for the town."

One of the investors attending the event was James Watson, at real estate developer Panattoni.

"We've seen over the last six months a real change in Swindon," Mr Watson said.

"Very active, pro development, pro growth."

Over the next decade, Panattoni is investing £918m in Swindon to build new logistics, industrial and data centres on the site of the former Honda factory.

Panattoni Park is expected to create up to 11,000 jobs and another 4,000 in the supply chain.

Jim Robbins, leader of Swindon Borough Council, said he was "really pleased" about the conversations he heard at the event.

"I've already managed to get a commitment out of the Science Museum, they'll have some of their exhibits in the town centre. Lots of positive conversations with developers," Mr Robbins said.

"I really think there's ways we can develop this ourselves if we have to, it just won't be as quick."

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