Fleming Way will become fully operational on Sunday (31 Aug) when bus services begin using the road.

The new road and improved public realm has been open to pedestrians and cyclists for the past two weeks while Swindon’s two main bus companies (Stagecoach and Swindon’s Bus Company) allowed their drivers to get used to the new stops and road layout.

Once the services have moved over, the bus station will be closed ahead of its demolition.

Find out more about Fleming Way and what improvements have been made.

You can find out which service will use which stop on Swindon’s Bus Company’s website.

Drove Road will be closed from 7pm tonight (29 Aug) to 6am tomorrow (30 Aug) to allow for resurfacing work to take place.

This follows work to upgrade the pedestrian crossing outside the fire station.

The existing pelican crossing will be replaced with a safer toucan crossing, featuring:

• new traffic lights
• integrated pathways linking to existing cycle routes
• a new traffic island
• upgraded kerbs

A permanent ‘No Right Turn’ restriction when exiting Aldi will also be added, to improve the safety of the area.

Work is expected to be completed by Monday (1 Sep). The temporary traffic lights will remain in place for a short period until the new lights are up and running.

In an ideal world, every local authority would have sufficient resources to be able to maintain local roads to a high standard with minimal defects.

But over recent decades, the amount of funding that councils receive from central government for preventative road maintenance work has significantly reduced.

This financial year we have a budget of £5.75m which we are using to carry out road resurfacing and reconstruction work, reactive repairs (including potholes and patching work), road marking refreshes, upgrading traffic signals and more.

So far in 2025, our Highways team has:

• filled around 7,000 potholes
• patched 65 footways and 111 carriageways
• carried out 544 masonry repairs (fixing pavements, walls, etc)
• repaired 235 pieces of street furniture (signage, bollards, etc)
• refreshed road markings in 213 areas
• cleaned 9,555 gullies

We’re on target to do more work in 2025 than we did in 2024, thanks to additional funding from central government allowing for more resources to tackle the historic backlog.

While we do have inspectors that survey the state of our roads, we also rely on your reports to make us aware of where work is needed. You can report any issues with a road surface on our website.

Upcoming resurfacing work will take place on the M4 westbound carriageway between junctions 12 and 13.

To carry out these works safely these roads will be closed every night between 9pm and 6am from Monday, 6 September to Friday, 10 October.

In addition, the westbound entry slip road at junction 12 road will be closed for a full weekend from 9pm on Friday, 3 October to 6am on Sunday, 5 October, to allow materials cure.

Traffic will be diverted via the A4 from Theale to Newbury, then back to junction 13 on the M4 via the A34.

Thanks to your reports, our team removed 63 abandoned vehicles in Swindon between January and June this year.

Abandoned vehicles cause safety and environmental risks, so we follow a standard process to identify and remove them. This includes:

• inspecting the vehicle and starting investigations within two working days of the vehicle being reported online
• issuing a notice on the vehicle (it is a legal requirement to give the owner a 15-day notice to remove it)
• issuing a 24-hour removal notice and then arranging for its removal and disposal if the owner doesn’t come forward
• destroying the vehicle at an authorised facility

We only remove vehicles that have been reported to us by residents online and make no profit from the process.

In July 2025, Swindon Travel Choices launched short walking trails around Swindon for you to explore. The three summer trails finish tomorrow (30 Aug) so now is your last chance to take part. Once you complete a trail you can receive a badge and also enter the prize draw to win vouchers, t-shirts and goodies.

Download the summer trails brochure or pick one up from a core library. The autumn set of trails launch on 1 October.

Looking for other walks? On Friday, 5 September, why not shake off the working week with a wander around the Wanborough Blue Trail. Starting from Redlands Way and finishing at The Brewers Arms and Redlands.

As autumn approaches, if you need some motivation to keep cycling, then Cycle September could be the push you need. It’s a month-long national challenge where you log your miles in the saddle, help your workplace climb the leaderboard, and possibly win some prizes.

Just sign up on the website and start pedalling. You can compete alone, or join in the workplace challenge by assigning your place of work.