Swindon residents like 'nothing' about town centre

The town centre "suffers from a poor-quality built environment", a committee heard

Residents of a Wiltshire town said they liked "nothing" about its centre in a council poll.

When asked by Swindon Borough Council what they liked about the town centre, 42% of respondents said "nothing".

Members of the council's Build a Better Swindon committee said they were "shocked" by the figure.

Council officer Stephen Hay told the committee, which is trying to improve the centre, that it "suffers from a poor-quality built environment".

He added: "It is heavily orientated to retail, a sector that is contracting, and there has been a significant contraction of the bar and nightclub economy...

"Customer experience and behaviour is poor, there is a high turnover of tenants in the shops and the environmental character is seen as poor."

Too many empty shops was one of the complaints about the centre, with 25% of respondents complaining about it.

The council did not give an exact figure but said "hundreds" of people had responded to the questionnaire.

'Shocking figure'

Chair of the Build a Better Swindon committee, Labour councillor Stanka Adamcova, said: "That's a shocking figure, 42%."

Conservative Councillor Jake Chandler said: "I'd like to see the council as a facilitator, not the architect of grand plans.

"And I think we should take the lead by using the building we own in the centre to make improvements."

Chair of Swindon Parish Council, Labour councillor Neil Hopkins, added: "We need something to bring people in. Whatever it is, say it's a play park. Make it the best playpark in the county, to bring people in."

Jim Robbins, leader of Swindon Borough Council - a Labour administration, said Wiltshire Police had stepped up patrols in the town centre recently and would continue.

He added the success of the designer outlet in Rodbourne had increased footfall in the town centre and one challenge would be to get "some of the four million people who visit every year to then go on to visit the Steam Museum, or go into the town centre as well".