Swindon: Some big changes we might see (started) in 2026
The new Local Plan could see many changes in the town in 2026.
Town Centre/Heart of Swindon/Local Plan
There will not be any visual difference in the town centre as a result of the new Local Plan next year.
If everything goes to plan, the Local Plan will just about have been approved by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government (or, in fact, a Planning Inspector appointed to act in their name).
But it will have a big impact.
It envisages 26,000 new houses in Swindon by 2043, with most in six strategic locations. the town centre is one of them and could see 8,000 new homes, probably mostly flats, built.
Some of the effects of the council’s desires are already being seen. Developers are converting shops and clubs and offices to flats in Bridge Street and Fleet Street, and the council will begin public realm works to encourage more people to want to spend time there.
In terms of the town centre, the Local Plan is the legally-required, nuts-and-bolts version of the Heart of Swindon regeneration plans.
These want to see more people living in the town centre, and hope to make the area around the railway station something of a hub for students to live and learn and new knowledge-economy businesses to set up.
After the public was able to make comments last year, it will be able to do so on the revised draft in Spring. And after a further revision, the finalised draft plan will be presented to the government for its examination and approval.
New Eastern Villages
The expansion of Swindon on its eastern border – the 10,000 homes planned as part of the New Eastern Villages continues.
Hundreds of houses are being built just south of the centre of South Marston, along Old Vicarage Road, and further towards Wanborough, the Lotmead development is growing quickly.
There has been consent already granted for thousands more houses in the various villages – but with a programme this big there will be many more; either proposals for new sites, or the details of design and layout for sites granted in outline coming forward over the next few years.
Southern Connector Road
Much of the construction traffic for the houses being built at Lotmead is using the Southern Connector Road. It’s 1.7 miles of new road that runs from South Marston to the Commonhead Roundabout (giving access to the A419 and M4).
It’s crucial to the success of the NEV and yet, is not opened to the public. And the council has a decision to make. The road crosses a bridge over the many streams and marshy ground south of the Wanborough Road. And that bridge is defective.
The council, which is already in dispute with the administrators of the £40m road’s constructor Buckingham Group, saying the road is not fit for purpose, has a decision to make.
Earlier this year Councillor Chris Watts, the cabinet member for highways, told the Local Democracy Reporter: “We have to make a decision now – do we make repairs to the bridge so it can be used, knowing that it won’t last as long as it needs to, and then have to face the same problem again a little later; or do we take the bridge down?”
As more and more houses are built, the more important having the SCR in use becomes, the more critical the council’s decision will be.
Abbey Stadium
Greyhound racing at Abbey Stadium is no more. And there hasn’t been a speedway race there since 2019.
Gaming International, the owner of the site just off the A419 in north Swindon have put in an application to build 130 houses and village centre facilities on the land.
And at the same time have an application in with Wiltshire Council for a new motor-racing circuit just off the M4 in Studley Grange on Swindon’s southern border.
Decisions on both proposals should be coming in 2026.
Kimmerfields Housing
After years of waiting, Swindon Borough Council’s patience with an unnamed partner in a housing plan for the town centre ran out.
The financial institution had been working with the council to build 250 houses on a cleared site west of Corporation St, north of Fleming Way in the heart of the main business district.
But no plans came forward and the council pulled out of the deal.
If it finds another partner, and a plan does come forward expect there to be more than 250 houses proposed – council leaders said they want to see the site intensified in any housing development.
Bus Station/New Theatre
There were, at one time, hopes that a new theatre and concert venue, built in the same demountable style as the Abba Voyage Arena in London, could be built, or at least close to it, during 2025.
In fact, the bus station where it might go, has not yet been demolished and cleared, although work on that is due to start within days.
And then a planning application for the new venue must come forward before any work on it starts.