ANOTHER apology has been offered by cabinet members and senior officers at Swindon Borough Council for the delays in finishing major roadwork projects across the town.

And in particular they said they should have been less optimistic about giving dates for completion of the Mead Way widening scheme, which has seen the road closed since spring 2020.

They had been called to a meeting of the council’s scrutiny committee by its chairman Jim Robbins – the Labour councillor for Mannington and Western ward which covers some of Mead Way.

In some tense exchanges he was critical of the way he says residents have been given multiple dates for completion.

Coun Robbins said: “We kept getting new dates – first it was April, then June, then August, then it was last January.

“Then in January the cabinet member Maureen Penny guaranteed to this committee that it would be finished in June. She gave an absolute guarantee. Then it was late summer, then it became the start of autumn, then October, then the end of October. After that it was October/November, then November. Now you’re saying the end of November.

“We are here today to try to understand the challenge. We want to understand why the communications have been so poor on this.”

Coun Robbins said residents’ complaints about the Mead Way closure were the biggest complaint he receives as a councillor.

He said: “People feel they haven’t been heard, they feel they have been and are being lied to. 

"When I pass on a new date for completion, I’m asked on social media why I won’t tell the truth. 

"This is causing real damage to the reputation of councillors, of the council and especially of the highways department.”

Highways officer Sam Howell said the council was still working towards a completion date of the end of November.

Council chief executive Susie Kemp said: “We are sorry. We will make sure that we have better comms in future. We may have to be less optimistic about deadlines in future."

The director of strategic development and growth Richard Bell told the committee most of the major schemes started will be completed over the next six months.

The one which has seen the White Hart Roundabout almost completely closed to traffic should be completed by the end of the year – and the whole scheme to widen it and build a new slip road onto the northbound A49 should be finished by March.

Work at the Gablecross junction and works at the Piccadilly Roundabout in Covingham and at the Nythe Road junction with Oxford Road – all of which are planned to accommodate traffic from the New Eastern Villages project – should be completed by the end of the year.

Cabinet member for strategic infrastructure transport and planning, Gary Sumner said it had been necessary to do the projects at the same time in order to be ready for the houses which are soon to be built.

He said: “There are up to 8,500 houses to be built in the NEV and 6,500 of them already have planning consent. We had to have the infrastructure in before the houses start going up. I apologise again for the delays, especially Mead Way, but we faced a perfect storm with the pandemic and contractor delays.”

Coun Russell Holland suggested councillors might be consulted by the highways officers before significant decisions were made in order to put the views of residents to them.

He said: “Technical decisions must be made by officers, I don’t want members making those decisions – but we have local knowledge acquired over time.
“It might be helpful to get that knowledge, and the voice of the residents heard before you make those decisions and not just afterwards.”