Wichelstowe Sports Hub

It would be great to have a full size 4G football pitch and a pavilion/cafe area that can utilised by the local football club. There are no decent 4G pitches locally, The Deanery is a hockey pitch and not ideal for football. Croft is not full size. It would be a great base and a huge asset for the local kids to use for years to come.

The current plan appears to be very football-centric. The site is very close to The Deanery Academy, which has community-bookable facilities for multiple football pitches (and other facilities). There are also plans for new football pitches nearby at Broome Manor, and existing pitches at The Croft. The new sports hub should avoid directly competing with The Deanery and potentially depriving the school of a source of revenue; the new facilities should try to provide something different so as to meet the needs of both the new community in Wichelstowe and the existing community across south Swindon.

This is great news! At present there's no skate park in south Swindon, and it'd be lovely to find space for that and have floodlights for the winter. But what would be really welcome would be a BMX track. We've already got good pump tracks, but the nearest BMX clubs are Bristol and Andover. It's a sport GB does really well at and it would be great if we could encourage it in Swindon.

With so many dog owners in the area, could we have an enclosed dog run area like the space at St Marks rec Park? Preferably not in the wettest/muddies part of the site.

We suggest ensuring the grass pitches are laid out and maintained as flexibly as possible for use by a range of different sports. Feel free to contact us for more information on softball field dimensions and requirements.

People are entitled to their opinions, of course, however, much of what I'm reading here in the comments is very short-sighted and not necessarily in the best interests of actual residents of Wichelstowe (and of those who will come to reside here in later years). We will have nigh-4500 houses built here soon and dare I say, even a couple of football pitches will not suffice. It's too easy for near-by East Wichel residents and Wroughton residents to comment against the Sports Hub while they already have certain facility provisions at their disposal. We residents desperately need these leisure/play facilities and we welcome the move. Thank you

Needs to be on point the Drainage, access safely on foot, have a fenced off area and footpaths for dogs on leads, keep some areas as nature intended.

Small amount of parking to encourage people to walk/cycle.

No undercover area for play area or grass/hard surface free to use area..
Working toilets and indoor cafe during opening hours in paid for areas.

No community space as there is this already at the Stowaway and the Deanery.

Needs to be an all inclusive play area plus skateboard and cycle tracks. As be good to cater for primary to secondary age kids of all needs plus easy to access safely for older kids.

If floodlighting to be used it needs to be solar powered/green energy that isn't disturbing the local wildlife or residents.

I am concerned about the lack of consideration for wildlife in these plans, e.g. very little wild space and the impact of floodlighting. I think an indoor hall suitable for various sports would be much more appropriate given the weather. I believe there are outdoor pitches at The Deanery which is within walking distance. An outdoor grassy area and play area would be welcome for local children who currently have to play in the road.
I feel like we really need a community centre in Middle Wichel so I would welcome that. East Wichel is too far. A café with seating would be great. I don't think too much space should be allocated for parking if the place is aimed at locals. Please make the centre reliably accessible for wheelchair users too.
It would be useful if there was some provision for other related activities (e.g. sports therapy).

The section adjacent to Wichelstowe lakes should be left to revert back to nature! This was an area that has an abundance of rare native wildflowers and provides good habitat for our wildlife - being close to nature is good for mental health too, not everyone wants to play football etc but many of us enjoy seeing deer and other wildlife having somewhere to exist.

Feel there is no need for yet another sporting facility close by for Wichelstowe area. There is already enough sports fields at the Deanery and a short five minute walk over the bridge to Wroughton.
Those fields would be better spend for rewilding to bring a touch of nature back to the area. The impact of the current housing development has already severely impacted the native wildlife in the area, how this was missed by the ecological teams is a joke.
Green fields and forrestry areas are more important to the area than additional sporting pavilions.
Rethink the plan please and improve the area for nature between east and west wichel

We are extremely concerned by these plans especially the flood lighting as this will be visible from houses in Old Town who over look Wichelstowe. There is already a lot of noise, disturbance and strong lighting visible from the academy pitches and these plans will add to this. What plans will there be for keeping noise levels low, turning off flood lighting early etc The area beneath Old Town previously was completly green and now is full of houses, developments. This area should be left to nature for animals, plants and for people to walk in the countryside

I would prefer the improvement to the infrastructure to be a doctors surgery as Wroughton surgery is at breaking point with all these new houses

There is no need for a sports hub. There’s plenty of sports facilities at the deanery. There’s a good cafe in East wichel and another in middle wichel. We were promised open areas between East and middle wichel. Use the money for the doctors surgery we were promised near Waitrose.

The Swans nest in the area of the north of the lake furthest on the left. Floodlighting on the grass pitches just to the left is going to disturb The Swans!

Don't mess with the Swans! Year after year they successfully breed offspring, it would be a shame to impact a natural nesting site.

There are no facilities in Swindon for Pickleball. It would be great if this could be considered. We share tennis and badminton courts. Pickleball is a sport that spans ages and disabilities. It is very inclusive.

A sports hub to the north of East Wichel Way was part of the original Wichelstowe Design Code. As an East Wichel resident, I've no objection to that in principle, and welcome the construction of grassed sports areas. However, I do have concerns about the details.
1) There are already sports facilities nearby at The Deanery Academy that are open to clubs and teams from the community. New facilities at the sports hub should be designed to compliment those facilities at The Deanery, not compete with them.
2) Any cafe should be focused on serving those participating in sports, so as not to compete with other nearby venues.
3) I'm not in favour of community rooms - it isn't a central location for Middle and West Wichel, and would compete with the StoweAway Community centre in East Wichel and with the community centre planned for Canalside.
4) Any flood lighting should be designed such that it's light is not visible from the lakes by East Wichel.
5) The proposed entrance to the car park seems dangerously close to the traffic lights controlling the junction between Foxham Way and East Wichel Way. It would also make the cycle path accessed from the current stub road dangerous to access from Foxham Way.
6) I'm concerned that proposals to 'improve' the landscape to the east of the sports hub will destroy the wildlife there that has developed in the decade since East Wichel was completed.

1) Be innovative - create all-weather play areas that are under a cover/rigid sail; perhaps lend to the farming area it once was and make a simple low-level barn roofed building for the play area.

2) all playing surfaces need to be soft-surfaced, and NOT like East Wichels park of patchy grass/mud intertwined.

3) CCTV or a warden/local group of volunteers to monitor for anti-social behaviour & vandalism.

4) a small cordoned off area for dogs and a rule that ALL dogs (…yes, your ‘well-behaved’ dog too madam), must be on a lead and are not allowed near the sports/play areas at all.

4) the areas mapped are all visited by a lot of wildlife, including multiple deer; please ensure this is a foremost consideration.

5) East Wichel/Wichelstowe benefits/discount/incentive for the local area users.

6) smaller carpark area, to allow more facilities like Padel/pickleball, and that way encourages walking, cycling to the hub - again benefiting locals by not having increased traffic in the area or not being able to use the facilities that booked/used by people not as local that have driven across Swindon to get to.

7) the area often a wind tunnel, so consideration to all weather use/seating eg roof sheltered seating, natural side sheltering such as logs/beams to create mini walls around seats (repurpose any trees that are cut down).

8) mini-road cycling track around the play park to encourage bike use for kids.

9) would an outdoor swimming pool be too much to ask for

If you are building facilities on both sides of the bus lane then you need to do something about slowing the buses down. I would say that it will need a crossing or speed jumps.

Would be great to have a mix of facilities, different to elsewhere in Swindon, particularly catering to late junior and secondary school age children.

I strongly oppose this development. There are no space left for the wildlife. This will significantly impact the environment with light pollution and further eradication of green spaces. There is a sports field already close to the Primary school and more sports fields just a short walk across the motorway bridge towards Ridgeway school. We have a cafe in East Wichel and this would not add anything. Fix the potholes.