1. Housing Development
in South Marston
You are invited to the Village Consultation Drop in Event at the
Mercure Hotel on Tuesday 23 July between 3pm & 8pm
This is the last chance to influence South Marston’s future. The event
will showcase the latest proposalsfor development emerging from:
the planners in Swindon
Borough Council
the developers who control
the land
the Parish Council’s
ExpansionWorking Group
This is a formal consultation event by Swindon Borough Council on how
they see the development taking place east of Swindon. Their proposals
are in the form of two Supplementary Planning documents (SPDs) which
provide the blueprint for developers when submitting planning
applications. After feedback from consultations has been incorporated,
these documents will be assessed by an independent Planning Inspector
in the late autumn.
In the meantime, the developers, who control the land north of the A420,
will be making a planning application for development at South Marston
and Rowborough before the end of the year.The developers will be
showing their initial proposals at the event.
Finally, the Village Expansion Working Group has continued to explore
the more detailed aspects of the development. The working group is
looking at the key factors affecting design of the village centre which will
be generated by the expanded open space.
See the plans, ask questions and contribute your
views to help shape South Marston’s future.
Swindon Borough Council
The Local Plan for Swindon is the document that identifies where, when, and
how development will take place in Swindon Borough up to 2026. It was
widely consulted on during the winter of 2012, and awaits review by an
independent Planning Inspector. This is the document that identifies that
major growth must be accommodated east of the A419, and earmarks South
Marston and Wanborough parishes as those areas that are most suited to
take this development.
The Local Plan makes some top level statements about how that
development takes place. However, it cannot convey sufficient detail to set
out all the constraints and requirements that would have to be met. This is
why there are two supplementary documents – the Eastern Villages and the
South Marston Village SPDs. These two documents are now also
undergoing formal consultation, so they can go, alongside the Local Plan, to
the Examination in Public in the autumn.
The SPDs state approximately how many houses and how much
employment and retail space is needed. They cover requirements for roads,
community facilities and services. The plans acknowledge environmental
and heritage constraints such as flooding, landscape and archaeology.
The Eastern Villages SPD
Expansion east of Swindon covers most of South Marston parish, part of
Wanborough parish and down to Commonhead roundabout. The plans on
display will show the way new villages will be created at Rowborough and
south of the A420, surrounded by landscaped areas and supported by a new
district centre.
The South Marston Village SPD
Expansion at South Marston is the most sensitive, since it will build onto an
existing village community. To reflect this, Swindon Borough agreed with
South Marston Parish Council that a separate blueprint would jointly be
developed to guide how the whole village would develop in the future. This
includes both greenfield and the brownfield site at Crown Timber, and builds
on all the previous consultations undertaken with local residents.

2. The Village Expansion Working Group
The hardy band of local residents who make up the group have worked
throughout the year to ensure that first the Local Plan and then the two
Supplementary Planning Documents reflect, as far as possible, the
early work and consultation outcomes that were achieved through
previous village events and questionnaires.
Since the last public event in June 2012, Swindon Borough Council has
made the decision, endorsed by the Parish Council, that the school
should be expanded on its existing site, rather than a separate building
or relocated school. This will require a land swap, since the expanded
school footprint needs a narrow strip of additional land from the existing
recreation ground owned by the Parish Council. Plans showing the
footprint of the extended school will be on show at the event.
The compensatory land will be added to the extended recreation
ground behind Bell Gardens which will be acquired by the Parish
Council. Overall, the open space achieved will far exceed the
statutory allowance for the size of development at South Marston.
The Expansion Working Group is now
shaping plans for the expanded village
centre – the facilities we want and the
uses of open space that are viable and
capable of being maintained by the
community. We are keen to have wider
village input into the final design and
want residents to tell us what they like
and don’t like about particular design and
location ideas.
Please bring your children with you if you need to. We have
set aside a small supervised area for them so you can have
the freedom to look around the display boards.
Distributed by the Expansion Working Group of South Marston Parish Council
The Developers
A few years ago, a consortium of developers was formed from all those
construction companies who had interests in developing the land covered
by the local plan expansion area. In recent times, this consortium has
disbanded. However, Hallam and Hannick homes are the two major
developers controlling land north of the A420. They are working together
and their proposals will deliver two of the ‘Eastern Villages’. The Local
Plan proposes an expanded South Marston, with an additional 500 homes
on greenfield sites they control and a new village, Rowborough, of some
1500 houses towards Nightingale Wood and down towards Acorn Bridge.
The developers aim to submit their planning application before the end of
this year. It is likely that South Marston village will be the first location
where development takes place.
Swindon Borough, the Developers and the Expansion Working Group have
had joint meetings to discuss how constraints, such as traffic and flooding,
affect their proposals and have had early discussions on the potential for
community facilities and open space.
The Parish Council Working Group had sight of their initial plan a few days
ago. Although they largely conform to the blueprint put forward in the
Swindon Borough planning documents, there are a number of significant
differences, particularly in the layout of roads. These differences will have
to be negotiated once the planning application is submitted, as part of the
normal planning system processes.
Come and talk to the developers and ask questions
about the proposals and the timing for construction.