Swindon’s newly-refurbished youth centre, The Base, officially opened its doors on Wednesday (26 March) with a launch full of energy, creativity and celebration.

Developed with children and young people, The Base offers a safe, inclusive and welcoming space for those aged 11 to 18, or those aged up to 25 with additional needs. It features creative arts, sporting activities, life skills workshops, mental health support and advice on education, training and employment.

Located in Lyndhurst Crescent, Park North, the new facility has been delivered by the Council in partnership with WAY Swindon, Step Swindon and SMASH Youth Project. The £3.8m redevelopment was funded by the Government’s Youth Investment Fund, secured by the Council to improve local facilities and create positive opportunities for young people.

At the launch event, guests got a taste of what’s to come, with children and young people enjoying barista training, music booth sessions, wellbeing games, gym equipment, table tennis and much more. The buzz on the day showed just how important this space is already to the local community.

A full timetable of weekly activities will be available soon. Read more.

A new entrance and multi-storey car park on the northern side of Swindon railway station will be developed as part of a major regeneration scheme.

Known as Swindon Knowledge Central, more than 100 acres of brownfield land next to the station will be redeveloped, creating a new high-quality commercial district, thousands of new jobs and hundreds of new homes. The Council has been awarded £100,000 by Homes England so designs can be drawn up to enable plans to be taken forward.

The new entrance will form part of the wider regeneration scheme that aims to capitalise on existing investment in the nearby Carriage Works and attract further private sector involvement. Along with the repurposing of existing land, Swindon’s station is a Network Rail priority for regeneration, following successful projects to upgrade Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central stations. Find out more.

Community health services across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire will transfer to a new provider from next Tuesday (1 April).

The local Integrated Care Board has announced that local community health services will be run by HCRG Care Group and community mental health and wellbeing services will be run by Second Step.

The Council has supported local partners over the last six months to secure the safe transfer of services, without impacting patients. This means that patients will continue to receive the care and support they do today, provided by the same health and care professionals, in the same place.

Affected patients will be contacted directly. For answers to questions regarding the future of community-based care, please visit the BSW website.

Appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations can be booked from Tuesday (1 April).

Those eligible for this year’s spring COVID-19 vaccine include adults aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes and people with a weakened immune system who are at greater risk from severe illness.

You can book an appointment here.

Cabinet Member for Communities and Joint Working, Councillor Jim Grant, met with volunteer, Andrew, and CEO of Citizens Advice Swindon, Claire Newport (pictured above), this week to highlight the support they provide to local residents.

Citizens Advice Swindon is part-funded by the Council and, in 2024, helped more than 10,000 people with more than 50,000 problems. The Council’s funding helped the charity to manage a 15 per cent increase in people seeking support to pay energy and water bills.

This can include helping residents to gain support with water bills from Thames Water through its WaterHelp scheme, or by helping residents who may be affected by the rise in energy costs to look at schemes such as the Great British Insulation Scheme.

Find out more by calling Citizens Advice Swindon on 08082787813 or pop in during a drop-in session at Sanford House (SN1 1HE).

New toilet facilities were lifted into place this morning (28 March) to sit behind H&M as part of the work to improve Fleming Way in the town centre.

Built off site, the toilet block features two larger accessible toilets for those who cannot use standard toilets and a Changing Places toilet which includes equipment such as hoists, privacy screens, adult-sized changing benches, and space for carers.

Work to turn the road into a new bus interchange with an improved public realm and a green corridor is entering its final stages and, when complete, will rejuvenate the key gateway into the town centre.

Visitors via train, bus or bike will enjoy a vastly-improved public realm, with more than 181 trees and 23,000 plants and bushes being planted. It will also include new bus shelters which feature more space, to allow for better accessibility for those in wheelchairs, wireless charging, wired charging ports, digital screens and solar panels.

The road is due to open later this Summer. Find out more.

We'd like to thank the 730 people who took part in two recent consultations on orders to ban anti-social activity within the Borough.

More than 90 per cent of people were in favour of introducing a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) within the town centre and Broadgreen. The order would clamp down on a range of anti-social behaviour including riding e-bikes and e-scooters and drinking alcohol in the street.

Another PSPO, which aims to ban unauthorised car meets across the Borough, was supported by almost two thirds of people who took part in the consultation.

Both PSPOs would be enforced by Wiltshire Police and designated officers from the Council, and anyone caught breaching the orders could be issued with a fine.

The results of the consultations and the supporting evidence, is currently being assessed by the Council’s legal team and will then be presented to magistrates for authorisation. 

Last summer, as part of work to improve the Railway Village, a number of roads were resurfaced to complement improvements to the pedestrian areas of this historic site.

We always inspect the quality of work when it is completed and, unfortunately, this particular scheme was not up to the required standard. This can be due to a number of factors such as the material used not being of sufficient quality, or the surface temperature not being at the required level when the tarmac was laid.

As a result, the contractor will be closing London Street and Sheppard Street and returning to resurface them at no cost to the Council, from Monday, 7 to the end of Wednesday, 9 April.

Residents have been provided with alternative parking while the roads are closed and a diversion route will be in place.

We’d like to thank motorists, residents and businesses in the area for their patience in advance of the work being completed.

The Council’s Adult Community Language team deliver fully-funded courses teaching English to speakers of other languages.

The courses teach skills including how to hold basic conversations and how to apply for work.

Samina (pictured on the right hand side of the image above), who has lived in Swindon for three years, said: “Taking the course has been super helpful, my confidence has grown over the past three classes and it’s a safe space to learn.”

If you are interested in enrolling on a language course or any other course provided by the Adult Community Learning Team, including the recently extended Multiply maths courses, you can call 01793 466482, email or head over to the website.