Swindon Civic Trust

Find out more at AGM on 22 November

It’s difficult to believe that Swindon Civic Trust has been in existence for more than six years, writes John Monniot.

It seems only yesterday that a few individuals met at the soon to be demolished Swindon College and resolved to start an organisation to:

• give Swindon people a voice in the way the town is being changed by the property developers and the council
• draw attention to the way its heritage is being squandered
• call for better quality and more imaginative development

It’s not been easy to get alternative voices heard. We lacked people power, money, experience and skills and have often faced thinly disguised hostility from some of ‘them’, irritated that their grand plans were not always openly welcomed. Nevertheless ‘they’ now routinely consult us even if they frequently don’t accept our advice.

Since formation the Civic Trust has taken a clear stand against development at Coate and proposed a town centre university. Dream on, ‘they’ said. But this year Swindon Council and the University of the West of England are now actively pursuing the idea.

The trust has run Swindon’s Favourite Place competition and exhibition, a web-based Election Questions project with regard to the town’s development, launched www.swindoncivictrust.org and, in conjunction with The Link, started www.SwindonGallery.org.uk

We publish a quarterly newsletter and organise an events programme, bringing interesting speakers and their ideas to the town.

With the enormous amount of development planned for Swindon over the next few years, there is a vital role for a non-partisan, independent Civic Trust to help Swindonians make their voice heard in the major decisions to come.

The trust urgently needs a transfusion of new blood to keep it active and innovating. We’ll be discussing this issue at the annual meeting on 22 November, 7pm, at Heelis (the National Trust HQ). The AGM will be followed by a talk by the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust on the progress of their restoration work.

Tickets for the talk, including light refreshments, cost £4 at the door. If you’re concerned about Swindon’s future, then you need to be at the meeting. But to find out more beforehand, mail: info@swindoncivictrust.org.uk

Roger Ogle
Publisher/Editor
SwindonLink magazine
71 Basepoint, Swindon SN5 7EX
Tel: 01793 608840
www.swindonlink.com