Town centre regeneration

Creating a vibrant future for Swindon town centre is going take the combined effort of the private, public and voluntary sectors.

That’s why we have been working with town centre land owners and partners to create a vision to reinvent Swindon’s centre. Helping it to transition from a past dominated by retail, to a future destination where people live, work, socialise and study.

We invited public feedback on the draft ‘Heart of Swindon’ document that sets out eight ambitions, which we will be working with partners to deliver over the next decade:

1. Centre for living: Creating new, mixed-use neighbourhoods in the heart of the town
2. A creative centre: Supporting Swindon’s growing creative community and delivering a new entertainment venue
3. A centre for learning: Giving Swindon’s higher education institutions a place in the centre and creating a hub for students
4. A knowledge centre: Bringing Swindon’s leading enterprises into the heart of town and providing spaces to support small businesses
5. A green and healthy centre: Investing in and connecting our central parks, along with extensive greening of the centre through tree planting and creation of new pocket parks
6. A vibrant centre: Providing a broad mix of shops, places to eat and drink, and community spaces that bring vibrancy throughout the day and into the evening
7. A connected centre: Creating stronger connections into the heart of Swindon and between its districts, including across the rail line
8. A proud Swindon: Committing to creatively re-using Swindon’s historic buildings and to ensure that development responds to the town’s rich history of innovation

Once finalised, the Heart of Swindon provides a framework for guiding future investment. It sets out over 50 ways the ambitions could be realised, including:

• Exploring the redevelopment of the Brunel Centre with the owner, which could marry retail and other uses including community space, workspaces and apartment living for students, young people and those downsizing
• Creating up to 5,000 new homes in the town centre, many of which would be affordable
• Building a new state-of-the-art entertainment venue, able to cater for a wide range of events including large West End touring shows, music concerts and other big events
• Developing a new professional performance space in the town centre for Wilkes Academy, to rehearse and showcase students’ work

Many of the ambitions will require significant investment from the private sector to translate into reality over the next decade and beyond.

But in the short-term, there are positive changes and improvements that can be delivered in the town centre over the next few years. The Council can facilitate changes through the assets we own in the town centre, our management of the public realm and influence to attract third-party investment.

The vision for the Heart of Swindon can be viewed in the document below:

• Vision for the Heart of Swindon (PDF)