Discount chain Home Bargains has set its sights on another building in Swindon. The store already has two branches in the town and was looking at taking over the Toys R Us building at Gablecross. But that deal looks to have fallen through and the company has put in an bid to take over the TK Maxx site on Great Western Way, creating up to 100 new jobs. The application to Swindon Borough Council is to build a new customer entrance/exit lobby, permission to sell food and drink, a refurbishment, and changes to the car park. The application by TJ Morris, the discounter’s parent company, says it already owns the site and the lease with TK Maxx is coming to an end.
People living on the Shrivenham Road on the approach to Highworth say they are gobsmacked at a decision by councillors to give the green light to a 250-home estate. Even the members of Swindon Borough Council’s planning committee, which gave outline consent to the plan by Gladman Developments, did so with visible reluctance and resignation. The concerns of residents and councillors focused not just on the narrowness and danger presented by the road just south of Highworth s centre, but the impact on schools and GP’s surgeries. Worries about the road and the risk increased traffic would bring to pedestrians, especially children going to Highworth Warneford School, saw a decision deferred in December last year so councillors could be given more information on what could be done to reduce the danger.
ONE IN every 16 ballots cast in the Pinehurst parish council ward was rejected on Saturday. Of 776 votes cast in the election of two councillors to the Central Swindon North Parish Council, 48 were rejected by borough council vote counters. The borough’s elections team has now confirmed that the papers were rejected as they had been left blank. Four people stood as candidates in the parish ward – three for Labour and one independent. The Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green parties did not field a candidate. The successful candidates were John Ballman, who received 423 votes, Javes Rodrigues (296 votes) and William Stone (261 votes). All were standing for the Labour Party.