This week I donned my walking boots and joined the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, local Cllr Jake Chandler and Crest for a walking tour of the Tadpole Garden Village Nature Park.
This was an opportunity to view progress, identify future plans and to see first-hand the benefits for the environment, wildlife and local residents.
The area forms part of the vital 13 mile environmental corridor between North Swindon and Blakehill Farm Nature Reserve, and is managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. The Nature Park sits on land which was protected to ensure both a green buffer as part of the Tadpole Garden Village development, and to secure land for wildlife habitat, biodiversity net gain and carbon off-setting. The Nature Park, as well as adjoining areas of Tadpole like the Stray, remain very popular as a local beauty spot. Wildlife is abundant in the meadows, with deer, birds and insects thriving, and plant life rewilding parts of the former farmland.
I was proud to help secure this land as part of the initial negotiations to secure Tadpole Garden Village. I am delighted with how Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have been managing the area. I believe areas for wildlife habitat, biodiversity as well as recreation should form the blueprint for other developments, and this is a fantastic example of that. I will continue to promote this in Parliament and locally.
Looking forward we have also been exploring how we can work with the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to help secure the long-term use of the former golf course site in Highworth. Not only would this be hugely beneficial for the local community and environment but would help secure a long-term sustainable future for this vital site.
As the former Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Retail I was very disappointed to see locally that Marks & Spencer in Swindon town centre is set to close and nationally that the Wilco chain is on the brink of collapse. There have been multiple reports into the reasons, but fundamentally Amazon and wider online shopping trends has decimated the footfall of town centres.
I understand the convenience of online shopping, I also understand that in many cases it is also cheaper – but maybe I am old fashioned, is it really the direction we want to embrace? Thriving town centres provide varied jobs (many of my generation will have had our first jobs in retail) and are social environments, where you meet with friends.
The Government and local Councils have tried to turn the tide, with limited Business Rate discounts, flexible planning, and various parking incentives for customers, but at best these have slowed the decline.
For me, we have choice. We either accept the seemingly inevitable (and I accept I could be in the minority), or the Government introduces an online sales tax with the money ring-fenced to support traditional High Streets. Alongside further reductions in rents, business rates and parking charges there needs to be significant investment in cultural and leisure offerings to entice people back onto the High Street.
To me this is about quality of life and opportunities. Despite all the challenges, successful shops / cafes can stand out – locally the likes of Berts Books, Highworth Emporium, Love Brownies and Darkroom Espresso for example. With increased footfall this would once again be the given, rather than the exception.
