Reactions to the publication of proposals for the new refurbished Oasis leisure centre have focused on both the proposals themselves, the amount of detail available in the graphics and the short time for public feedback.

Published on Wednesday, November 20 by the owners of the centre, and designed to elicit public views ahead of a formal planning application, there are  just eight days to give feedback by 12pm on November 27.

And that deadline is less than 24 hours after the public consultation event to be held at the Institute of Technology at New College Swindon’s North Star Campus on Wednesday 26, between 1pm and 7pm.

 Save oasis Swindon addressed their concerns directly to Seven Capital: “Can you also please explain why the public consultation for feedback ends only 17 hours after your exhibition finishes? Why is there such a short consultation period, surely the consultation period should begin from the day of the exhibition, and last several weeks?

The campaign added: “This is a massive project that many Swindon residents are concerned about. Our campaign gathered thousands of survey results last year, which we presented to your managing director. Seven Capital and SBC are already fully enlightened of what Swindon residents want - the retention of the facilities on a like-for-like basis.”

Another post by the campaign focussed on the 700 flats to be built around the site and the industrial development of the factory site across the road: “The language used by Seven Capital highlights the "placemaking" and "new neighbourhood" aspects, rather than centring on the Oasis renovation. There were no CGI images of the pool or slides. The plans were focused straight away on the housing and commercial warehouses.

“While the proposal does aim to revive the Oasis, the scale and emphasis of the housing development raises legitimate questions about whether this is primarily a housing-led scheme wrapped in a placemaking narrative. Careful scrutiny of the developer's true motivations and the financial details would be warranted

Not everyone entirely agreed: Barry Cook responded: “The only way the oasis could ever reopen is through the sale of houses on its land, surely it’s better if half of the oasis reopens rather than none of it.”

Helen Salter seemed to agree: “The sports hall was always a great space BUT had such poor acoustics. The facilities around it were poor too (limited toilets, narrow corridors etc.)

Separate from the actual main sports hall there are so many other facilities on site. I am fully behind backing the refurbishment of the Oasis Swindon. Just now focusing on that and not the saving of the sports hall.

From the perspective of helping public understanding of the plans – there were no graphics of what the interior might look like, and artist’s impressions of the new building were soft-focus and impressionistic rather than setting out a very clear picture of the layout and how the buildings might look.

The plan drawings were initially confusing with the apartment blocks, coloured in green and grey stripes able to be interpreted as open green space which meant it was hard to tell whether the grey blocks were apartments or more parking.

It must be emphasised that this was not the formal planning application which will have more details.

At least it will for the refurbishment of the Oasis centre.

It is understood that Sevan Capital will be seeking full permission for that work – and it already had permission for its plan to cover the dome in more modern materials.

Any consent granted for the apartments and warehouses is likely to be outline initially with more details available at any subsequent application if that outline permission is granted.

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