How to sort out Swindon's severe housing shortage

We received a letter from a Swindonian called Sid, who proposed ways to create enough affordable housing for the town's growing population without ruining important green spaces.

I write to you as one troubled by the ache of our town, Swindon, stretched and strained under a crisis of its own making— a housing muddle that grows heavier with every passing day.

The people can no longer find homes to call their own.

Rents soar like startled birds, and the dream of owning a house drifts further from reach, like a child chasing a kite beyond the fields.

Since the turn of the millennium, Swindon's population has swelled significantly.

In 2001, approximately 180,051 souls called our town home.

By 2021, that number had risen to around 233,400, marking a 29.6 per cent increase over two decades.

This growth, while a testament to Swindon's enduring appeal, has intensified the strain on our housing stock, leaving many adrift in search of affordable shelter.

Swindon, once the beating heart of Britain's railway industry, where steam engines roared to life and railway lines stitched the country together, now faces the challenge of stitching together homes for its own people.

Our heritage is built on ingenuity and industry—traits that turned this town into a hub of progress.

Could we not channel that same resourcefulness to solve our housing crisis?

Bristol, our bustling neighbour to the west, has tried its hand at solutions.

Could Swindon follow suit?

Let's consider this together, dear editor, over a pint of cider and a good thought or two.

-Greenbelts and Open Spaces

Not all fields are fields of dreams, my friend.

There are lands on the edge of the town, untended and weary, waiting for a purpose.

Could we build here, sparing the wildflower meadows and riverside rambles?

Let us tread gently, yes, but not be afraid to use the earth where it welcomes us.

-Homes That Arrive Like Engines

In Bristol, they're building houses in factories, pieced together like the great locomotives once assembled in Swindon's famous works.

These modular BoKlok homes are swift, sturdy, and neat, arriving in towns like freshly minted carriages on a line - ready to shelter and settle.

Why not here, in our Swindon?

Surely, we've the skill to pluck this idea from the air and make it our own.

-Reaching for the Sky

On the rooftop car parks of Bristol, they've dared to build upwards. Hope Rise, they call it.

There, above a car park, rise homes like blossoms in the clouds.

Imagine it- our Swindon car parks too could find room above the parking in the airspace, homes stacked neatly where there was once only air.

A touch of modern daring, don't you think?

-Homes Forged in the Future

And what of 3D-printed houses?

Walls spun from machines as if from the hands of an industrious spider, built quicker than the wind can whisper.

They're strong, cost less than bricks and mortar, and might just be the way forward.

Swindon, with its history of precision and engineering, could lead the way to a future shaped by ingenuity.

There's one in Eindhoven already, featured in the FT and The Economist. On YouTube. The way forward? Who knows.

-Renewing the Old

There are homes, too, that have grown tired and shabby, their faces cracked and their hearts weary.

Let us renew them, rebuild them with care, and make Swindon proud again.

New homes, bright and welcoming, would stand like oaks planted where saplings once grew.

Oh, but the doubters will come, wagging their fingers and muttering of impossibilities.

Yet we know better, don't we? After the war, we built homes for the masses with little but determination and grit.

If we could do it then, surely we can do it now.

Swindon once connected a nation with iron tracks and roaring steam.

Let us now connect our people with homes-solid, welcoming, and ready for the future.

Yours in hopeful planning,

Syd

Address supplied

PS. The greenbelt folk are fierce guardians of their fields.

We must tread softly, even as we build boldly.