In May 2024 Transport for New Homes visited a new part of Swindon called Wichelstowe, a large urban extension which has been slowly built up over the last 18 years since it was given planning permission in 2006. Swindon centre itself appears to be in bad need of regeneration with the Brunel Shopping centre having suffered the loss of many businesses. We started from Swindon Station.

Wichelstowe as an urban extension began as a collaboration between Swindon Borough Council and Taylor Wimpey in 2002 to jointly fund and provide infrastructure needed for housing on what was known as Swindon’s ‘front garden’ between the town and the M4 motorway. It has its own Wichelstowe wiki page.

The Wichelstowe development is large – 324 hectares and has a very long and complex planning history. The development will eventually have 4,500 homes. The planning history of the scheme involves complex decisions on every aspect of the estate and the original masterplan has altered over the years.

East Wichel has a walkable and village-like feel. The ‘Wichelstowe Design Code’ — imposed by the planning authority, requires most houses to have a different external appearance: no more than two houses in a row look identical. The restrictions also require most houses to be behind a small railed front garden, whilst each parcel of housing must contain some larger houses, some cottage-style houses, and a barn-style apartment building. 

The cycle ride from Swindon station took about twenty minutes. The development is not meshed with the streets of the existing suburban area, but is separate. Luckily we found a way across the green strip between the edge of town and the new estate and before long a group of new homes were welcoming us.

However some parts of the development like the one shown here, lack greenery, perhaps seen as too expensive to provide and maintain.

There is a small local centre in East Wichel with a convenience store and a restaurant and these are primarily designed for arrival on foot although there is parking. The inclusion of a small green area (in the distance in the photo) makes this part of the development feel more friendly. It was great to see an independent business in the development – a restaurant right in the centre. There is a playground and the primary school is incorporated into the development in a traditional manner on-street with limited parking. The pub is equally walkable to and handy for a quick visit.

After stopping at the pub for refreshment we followed the road to the other part of the development area, Middle Wichelstowe which is quite different from East Wichel. Whereas East Wichel has been designed for walkability and on a human scale, the more recent parts of this urban extension appear to be more around the car, in terms of road and junction space, and the general language of the scale of the layout.

The cycle ride to Middlewichel was on a long stretch of distributor road, with pavement, and at the end of it you could an area still partly in construction. Parents with small children were making their way along the road, presumably coming from the primary school and walking home.

The approach to Middle Wichel gives a view of the new secondary school there. The architecture in this part of the development is generally quite different from East Wichel and includes town houses as well as low-rise apartments. Roads are wide although with a 20 mph limit, but rather than a cosy parade of shops and eateries, the place seems to be centred on a very large Waitrose supermarket. The place is used by shoppers from far afield, because of the easy motorway access and the ample car-parking provided. A bus looks almost out of place at this scale of car-based development and seemed almost empty.

Near to the giant Waitrose was the Wilts and Berks canal and on its banks was a modern and landscaped bar and restaurant, making the best use of its waterfront position. It had a large car-park and obviously attracted people from a long way around the area. However may could walk.

Nonetheless the development has a reasonably good bus service for those who don’t drive or cycle (10-30 minute during the day from East Wichel to the town centre) but travel across Swindon to for example, employment areas, leisure centers, or the hospital is much faster by car than bus, because of having the change bus one or more times, and because Swindon is a low density town designed around link roads, distributor roads and roundabouts for the purpose of easy driving. That said the Swindon Bus Company runs some good cross-Swindon service from the newer parts of the Wichelstowe development and stop at the large Nationwide Building Society campus nearby too. We noted a first floor flat in a new apartment block for 200,000.

There were also a number of open spaces and these are being developed for the combined purposes of wildlife habitat and the enjoyment of residents – and there is the Wichelstowe ponds area by the M4 for walks and looking at swans, herons and other wildlife. A new access road is being built for the development. The southern access road, which crosses the M4 motorway to the east of junction 16, provides the fourth access to the Wichelstowe development .

The cycling route back into town ran along the canal for at least some of the way. The cycle route was great except that when it ended it was a matter of negotiating the traffic as usual.