University site bid is illogical (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

University site bid is illogical

Has Coun Barrie Thompson ever visited Swindon? From his letter it would seem not. I would like to point out that the centre of Swindon is already concrete.

Why green the centre of Swindon at the expense of the outskirts, exacerbating the urban sprawl, when even the Government is encouraging the redevelopment of brownfield sites?

I fail to see the logic. The councillor was against the football stadium, arguing that urban dwellers are as entitled to open space as those who live in the countryside.

The university site is not in the countryside, it is on the edge of an urban area of Swindon, very similar in many ways to the stadium location that was also on the edge of Swindon.

It was inevitable the area around the hospital would be targeted for the development once the hospital was allowed to go ahead, a development where residents were blackmailed into accepting the site or do without a new hospital.

I am not totally against a university for Swindon but I am convinced no thought has been put into its location.

Is Coate the right location, not just the best location? For best, read location most easily justified.

Mentioning Swindon University in the same sentence as Oxford and Cambridge just shows the councillor has his head in the clouds rather than the real world. He also mentions that the university will be one day be in the centre of Swindon.

I sincerely hope not as, to quote the councillor, urban dwellers are entitled to open space. I get the impression that Swindon Council wants a university to further its own aspirations for city status rather than any benefit for its long suffering residents.

Coun Thompson's arguments are ill thought out and frankly laughable.

M Brownless

Swindon