A heartfelt plea for common sense. Please, somebody.....?!

What a mess! There always has been a more self-sustaining and better-located option for the MuseumandArt Gallery, an option which was wilfully left out of the options appraisal -- the vast Carriageworks. Now a heritage group who has (unfortunately) helped and advised the SMAG campaign is being 'corrected' by Mr Hiscox. An unsustainable new-build heading the Kimmerfields area -- already becoming a mess of development/political shenanigans --- is surely NOT what Swindon deserves. Meanwhile a whole area -- OUR IRREPLACEABLE, ORIGINAL CULTURAL AREA -- is subject to risk from decay (Mechanics'), development into flats (Hydro and Faringdon Road) and general undermining (a bus every minute undermining the foundations of the Mechanics' due to bus lane re-routing). So-called engagement or consultation has taken place by parading around every event or school available, asking people to sign insufficiently-detailed postcards, AFTER the decisions have been made. Decisions made by a relatively small cohort who think they know what is best for Swindon, and who have steadfastly refused to properly consult, rethink or renegotiate. What SHOULD have happened at the start is on the ground, door-to-door community engagement of the kind undertaken all around the country -- by specialist and unbiased community engagement teams -- to properly assess what people want, with an honestly put-together list of options on the table. But it did not -- is there any surprise, then, that a petition against the new-build arose, especially given the evident media bias in favour of the new-build? PLEASE sign this petition - Mr Hiscox and the SMAG team should be sincerely appealed to rethink this bid and work towards a better bid which will use Heritage Lottery Funds for optimal effect in Swindon. change.org/p/swindon-borough-council-restore-swindon-s-heri… There is no precedent for two enormous bids for the same town and SBC have blocked the progress of an HLF bid to improve the Mechanics' while it pushes this new-build lunacy. A new bid which serves to BOTH safeguard our amazing art and our amazing Railway Area is far more sensible and achievable, despite the naysayers.