CG Redevelopment: Keep It Up!

Swindon Town Football Club along with the Swindon Advertiser have been promoting the 'SAY YES - To County Ground redevelopment' and have stepped up the initiative with fans, who are now able to get FREE car stickers to show their support for a redevelopment. The club is running it's own petition that can be printed from the official website, and posted directly to the club



The Keep Town in Swindon initiative is rapidly reaching the 1000 post card plateau, with members of TrustSTFC, Loud and Proud, and other fans groups, taking time before the game to stand outside, or in the Winners Lounge to distribute post cards to be sent to local coucillors. We encourage fan's to keep showing your support. 1000 Is not enough. We need to keep on to the council and show what an impact the club has in the local community.

Here is the original release from Trust STFC:

More than 700 postcards have been delivered to Swindon Borough Councillors backing the redevelopment of the County Ground and calling on the council to do everything in their power to work with the club.

Keep Town in Swindon, the campaign organised by STFC fans to back the proposed redevelopment of the County Ground, yesterday delivered over 700 postcards from fans and local people to their borough councillors. The postcards call on councillors to do everything in their power to work with the club on the redevelopment, a commitment made by councillors in November 2004 when they unanimously passed a motion pledging to do just that. The postcards also point out the benefits, financial cultural and sporting, the club brings to the town, and the very real danger that Swindon could lose its only professional football club after 125 years if councillors do not grasp the urgency of the situation.

In total there are 716 cards, 502 from local residents to individual councillors with a further 214 from fans coming from outside the area to watch the club, addressed to Mike Bawden as council leader. While some may 'pooh-pooh' whether fans from outside the borough should have any say on the issue, Keep Town in Swindon have pointed out that this just backs their argument that having the club at the County Ground brings in a significant amount of visitors to the area, spending money in Swindon that would otherwise be lost to the borough.

This is just the first tranche of these postcards in what is an ongoing campaign - these 700 postcards were collected at just two recent home games, while many more have also been sent out or taken away by individual fans. We hope that councillors will listen to fans and local residents and realise the very real benefits of having Swindon Town at a redeveloped County Ground before the club is lost to the town forever - it will be too late then to mourn the loss to the town's cultural life, civic pride and local traders' profits.

We would also urge all football fans in the town, and local residents who do realise the very grave loss that could face the town, to write to their councillors urging them to back the redevelopment proposals - lists of councillors and sample letters etc can be found on the campaign website at http://www.keeptowninswindon.org.uk/