The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 48: April/May 2020 | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS
SWINDON’S BID TO BE THE
FIRST ELECTRIC BUS TOWN
Swindon Borough Council is charging ahead with a bid to the
Government to improve the Borough’s air quality.
Peter Wragg, Amanda Burnside and Michelle Donelan MP cut the turf at Lackham.
Turf cut for state-of-the-art
Agri-tech & Science building
Wiltshire College & University Centre has started work on
its new state-of-the-art Agri-tech and Science building.
A ceremony took place in February at the
Lackham campus with Principal and CEO
Amanda Burnside and Michelle Donelan MP
cutting the first turf, alongside Peter Wragg,
Deputy Chair of the Swindon and Wiltshire
Local Enterprise Partnership (SWLEP).
The Agri-tech building, which will become
the centrepiece of the Lackham campus,
forms part of a £22million investment by the
Government through the SWLEP into the
College’s Salisbury and Lackham campuses.
Amanda Burnside said, “Technology offers
real opportunities for farmers to increase
productivity, protect the environment and
make farming safer.
“This investment in the Lackham campus
will enable students here to learn about and
train in some of the latest technologies and
facilities, enabling our future agricultural
workforce to develop and maintain a
competitive edge and protect our increasingly
important rural economy.”
Michelle Donelan, who has recently
been named universities minister, added,
“I’m really impressed at what is being done
here at Lackham. The £9.2m investment
is fantastic for the county and will help not
only my constituents but many more people
further afield.”
The College was also pleased to welcome
representatives from the SWLEP, the High
Sheriff of Wiltshire David Scott, the architects
AWW and other dignitaries.
The first phase of the £9million
development works at the College’s
specialist land-based campus began in
September and has seen the former Animal
Centre and outdoor enclosures demolished
to make way for modern, industry-standard
facilities, which are currently under
construction.
The project has also seen the
transformation of the manor house into a
Higher Education Teaching Centre, enabling
the College to grow its university-level
offering over the next two years to include
degrees in Environmental Science and
Sustainability and HND’s in Agri-tech and
Agri-Business Management.
The Council has teamed up with Swindon’s
two main bus service providers, Swindon’s
Bus Company, owned by Go South Coast,
and Stagecoach West, as it aims to become
the country’s first Electric Bus Town.
In February, Transport Secretary Grant
Shapps announced that the Government was
making £50m available to one local authority
to set the ‘gold-standard’ in environmentally
friendly public transport.
The winning area will receive the funding
to help pay for a brand-new fleet of electric
buses, reducing emissions and cleaning
up the air in their community. A town with
200 electric buses could save around 7,400
tonnes of CO2 each year, the equivalent to
taking 3,700 diesel cars off the road.
Swindon’s Bus Company’s sister operator
Salisbury Reds already has experience
of electric bus operation, with three new
vehicles which work on two of the park and
ride services in the nearby city.
Each electric bus can travel approximately
160 miles on one full charge and it takes four
hours to charge the batteries. One electric
bus will save 15.5 tonnes of Nitrogen Oxide
and 32.2 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The Electric Bus Town proposal is a pilot
scheme which aims to analyse the benefits
of moving all buses to electric power,
including how it will improve air quality and
greenhouse gases in a place.
It aims to understand the challenges of
running an all-electric fleet, how it affects
running costs, while also supporting bus
manufacturers in the development of zero-
emission bus technology.
It is hoped that introducing an electric
bus fleet will encourage more people to use
buses rather than cars.
The Council and bus operators will
first submit an expression of interest to
the Government by the end of April and,
if successful, shortlisted bids will be
announced at the end of May.
Business cases will then be submitted
between the summer and autumn.
Councillor Maureen Penny, Swindon
Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for
Transport and the Environment, said, “I am
determined with the help of my Cabinet
colleagues that we do all we can to improve
air quality in Swindon. It is one of the reasons
why we have set up a Climate Change
Working Group.
“So when the Government presented the
Electric Bus Town scheme, it ticked a lot of
boxes. I was extremely impressed to see one
of Salisbury Reds’ electric buses in action
and to find out about all their environmental
benefits.
“We will be putting everything we can
into this bid with the help of Swindon’s Bus
Company and Stagecoach West to give us
the best chance of obtaining the £50m in
funding.”
Pictured from left to right: Cllr Keith Williams,
Cllr Maureen Penny, Swindon’s Bus Company’s Paul
Walker and Alex Chutter, and Cllr Cathy Martyn.
Swindon’s regeneration plans go on public display
Plans to create a new bus interchange and
gateway into Swindon town centre have gone
on display to the public.
The proposed scheme has been developed
by Swindon Borough Council and could
see Fleming Way completely transformed
to include a new public space with a green
spine to reflect the old canal that used to run
along Fleming Way.
Improved pedestrian and cycle routes also
form an important part of the scheme which
would build on the recent work at nearby
Wellington Street, creating an attractive route
from the railway station into the town centre.
All national and local bus services would
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www.tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk
be incorporated along Fleming Way and the
new road layout would complete the link
between the Eastern and Western Flyer
cycle routes. The new bus interchange is
being developed to complement other town
centre regeneration schemes, including the
Kimmerfields development to the north of
Fleming Way. As part of this development,
the existing bus station will be demolished
enabling the Council to deliver new homes
and offices to attract more people to live and
work in the town centre.
The Council has applied for £25m in
funding from the Government’s Future High
Streets Fund to create the new bus facility.
The final bid for funding will be submitted
this April, and the Council expects to find out
if it has been successful in the autumn.
Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise
Partnership (SWLEP) has contributed £3m
to progress the design of the scheme and
the Council’s Cabinet has also been asked to
contribute £5m of capital funding.
Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon
Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for
the Town Centre, said, “Swindon has been
shortlisted for £25m by the Government from
hundreds of bids, and we now have to wait
until the autumn for a final decision.
“This would be one of the largest
investments in the heart of our town in
a generation and sends a message to
businesses that Swindon is a place in which
to invest.”
For more info:
www.swindon.gov.uk/busboulevard