30/05/10 - Progress at Last on Torun Way Bus Gate

After many months of persistence from residents and councillors, there is some progress at last on the ongoing issue of the Torun Way bus gate.

The following is an extract from an email just received from one of the Highways officers at Swindon Borough Council:

"The Transport Development Management Team have been working with the North Swindon Development Company (NSDC) in recent weeks to move this further along and as such, a design for the Bus Gate has now been approved. The drawings have been updated with the revised design and also address some minor Land Registry anomalies. I am expecting the drawings to be delivered to me from NSDC today so that I can issue them to our Legal Dept. to enable the Section 38 Agreement to be drafted and circulated to all parties for approval.

Once the Section 38 (Highway Adoption) Agreement is signed, the Bus Gate works can be implemented by NSDC and the relevant Traffic Regulation Order(s) process can be commenced by our Legal Orders Team. My understanding is that the process will involve the advertisement of the Order for a specified time period, and if no objections are raised during this time, the Order can be made and come into operation.

We are unable to make the Order before the Section 38 Agreement is signed as Orders can only be implemented on highway land. Once the Agreement is signed, Torun Way will be legally offered as highway to the Borough Council and therefore the Order can be put into place."

Abbey Meads ward councillor Peter Heaton-Jones said, "I am delighted that the persistence of the local councillors and residents has paid off. As soon as we have designs we will make sure they are available for residents"

Justin Tomlinson, North Swindon MP, "We are furious that the developers have dragged their feet for so long on this issue. It appears they have delayed the installation of the bus gate in a bid to help boost house sales, without a care for the exisiting residents who bought their houses on the understanding this bus gate will be in place."