The Legend - Buck Hysen

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Should Swindon be given City status?

As a life long Swindonian, I would like to think that I know the town pretty well.

Unfortunately I do not share the point of view that Swindon should be given city status.

I'm not saying that Swindon is a bad place, because it is not. I'm sure there are far worse places to live in the UK than Swindon. Although I do not think that this ever growing town should be given city status.

To start with you only have to compare Swindon with our main rivals we are fighting for city status with, Reading.
My wife comes from Reading, and I have visited the town on several occasions, and for me, Reading has far more attractions than Swindon.

Swindon may be one of the fastest growing towns in Europe (It is far bigger than when I was young), but it has many annoying aspects to it, that quite frankly really do set the town back.

Roadworks: I'm sure every major town and City in the UK has major roadwork's happening all the time, but I have never seen so many roads dug up as there are in Swindon.
You cannot go a week without one major road being dug up for one reason or another.
If Swindon really want to earn City status then I think that they need to sort out all major road problems first.

Traffic in and around the town during the rush hours are ridiculous. With no traffic, you can drive from the outskirts of West Swindon (Wooton Bassett), to the outskirts of East Swindon (the M4 motorway bridge) in about 15 minutes. If you try to do this during the rush hour, then it would take you over an hour.

Many of you who live in larger towns and Cities will say this is normal, but when you take into account that most of the delays are down to road works or poorly planned road systems, then you may be able to see my point.

This leads me to the terrible road system that I think Swindon has.
Swindon council's solution for any minor problem is to do one of three things
a) Put in a roundabout
B) Put in a traffic light
C) Put humps in the road.

I guarantee that you cannot drive more than about 100 yards in Swindon (Not including the outskirts), when you don't come across one of these 3 things.

Everybody I know who lives in and around the town are constantly complaining about the Swindon road system, and this is the main cause of traffic chaos in and around the town, more so than the actual amount of traffic.

Swindon is famous for having more roundabouts than any other town/city in Europe. And although the magic roundabout is a nice feature of the town. It can be a terrible annoyance during the rush hours. Basically because there are so many who just don't know how to use it.

Swindon's main asset, apart from the many houses that are propping up all the time, is the fact that there is so much work here.

What does let the town down is that unit and shop prices around the town are so expensive, that the chance to work self employed from a shop or unit is very unappealing.

There are a lot of buildings around the town that are empty (Although not as many as there were a couple of years ago). If prices were dropped and these buildings were filled, then I'm sure Swindon would boom even more so than it is currently doing.

When you take into account that Swindon is less than an hours drive from London, the town should be booming more than it actually is.

Away from work prospects, there are a lot of things to do around the town. Enough pubs to keep you satisfied for years (I have over 30 pubs within 5 minutes walk from my house alone), 2 very big cinemas, a megabowl complex, several sports centre's and clubs around the town.

But is this enough for an ever growing town? You cannot go to a nightclub, sports centre or complex without it being packed to the rafters on most nights. Everybody I know is forever having to book up things in advance. Cinema, Bowling, Sports, etc
Which leads me to believe that Swindon needs even more to do around the town.

To start with, I think Swindon needs a much bigger nightclub somewhere in the town to accommodate the many clubbers who live here. You cannot go to a nightclub in Swindon without it being packed to the rafters. More so than I have seen in many other towns.

I think the town also needs another sports complex, maybe hosting bowling or ice skating, or better still something else for young and old people to do.

Swindon certainly isn't a horrible place to live. I have enjoyed living here for 27 years. But I do not think that the town is quite ready to be given City status just yet.
Maybe in a few years time, when the Swindon Council can solve a lot of problems that exist around the town then maybe I will feel more confident about it. But until then I don't think it is the right time.