17-04-2025
Plans for future of Abbey Stadium finally revealed as fight to save it continues
Plans to convert Abbey Stadium into homes and a community hub have been confirmed.
The website has gone live with proposals to build over 100 new homes on the site in Blunsdon St Andrew, close to the A419.
Leaflets have also been posted through the doors of residents living nearby.
The first element of the proposed 'masterplan' is to convert the stadium into an eco-friendly residential neighbourhood.
The proposal includes the development of around 130 new homes, with a mix of one and two-bedroom flats and two-, three- and four-bedroom houses.
(Image: Accessible green spaces will be connected by a central avenue through the site, with parking spaces for residents and visitors.
The proposal also includes the provision of sustainability and energy efficiency measures to deliver a fossil fuel-free site.
The second element of the proposal is to redevelop the northern part of the site into a community hub for local residents, community groups and small businesses.
(Image: The proposed Abbey Community Hub is intended to create modern community spaces that will include food outlets, leisure and sports facilities, events and workspaces for independent and micro-businesses.
A convenience store, a micro takeaway and other retail units, a community café, micro office/commercial units, sports club facilities and multi-function spaces would all be features of the developments.
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The stadium is still currently in use as a greyhound racing track, but the half-rebuilt stadium does not admit crowds, and Gaming International announced last month that racing at the site would cease at the end of the year.
The venue previously hosted speedway until 2020, but not since, and Gaming International is part of a consortium proposing a new motorsports racetrack on the edge of the borough at Studley Grange, just off the M4.
(Image: Dan Adams) The proposal states: "The former Abbey Stadium, located at Lady Lane, is currently an under-utilised piece of brownfield (previously developed) land situated in an area which has seen significant development over the past decade.
"This site is conveniently located adjacent to the A419, providing access to the Cotswolds and the M5 to the north-west and the M4 to the south-east.
"With the permanent end of its former use as a speedway and greyhound track, there is a significant opportunity to transform the site and deliver much-needed new homes for Swindon."
Fears that the stadium would be lost and redeveloped for houses were all but confirmed in March when proposals mistakenly went live on the same website.
While the information was quickly removed from the website with Gaming International saying any information viewed was "invalid", the Local Democracy Reporter understood the proposals to show a 'village' of up to 130 houses on the site.
Leader of Swindon Borough Council, Councillor Jim Robbins, had said when the cessation of racing in December was announced that the site remained in the local plan as a leisure allocation, and not for housing.
