komadori’s green corner

With nineteen boxes to choose from on the ballot paper — 89 candidates in total — I ought to have been spoilt for choice as I voted earlier today in the election for the European parliament. It wasn’t so. Perhaps I’m an electoral purist, but when I vote I do so on issues within the remit of the body I’m electing people to. So in local council elections, I vote on local issues not national ones: and in European elections I vote on issues that the European parliament can influence, not national ones.

In the run-up to the election I only received election communications from five parties. Despite supplementing that with the fairly comprehensive coverage of the candidates in the Adver, and searching the internet for the website of each candidate, if they had one, I could find little evidence of effort to propound their policies on matters that an MEP could vote on. The three mainstream parties all tried to make this a referendum on the performance of Mr Brown’s government — quite why the red nest chose to do that is puzzling but if they wish to commit electoral suicide, nobody’s going to stop them. Then there were the sixteen single issue, single policy and nutter parties plus one independent. Each either too extreme to contemplate or trying to make this a protest vote against our MPs’ troughing at our expense. I’m not happy with the behaviour of my MP, but that’s no reason for me to give my vote to some fringe party: where’s the evidence that they’d be more trustworthy?

If politicians wish — as they say they do — the British electorate to take European Parliament elections seriously, then they need to do so to, campaigning on issues that the European parliament can influence.

Thus it was that as I contemplated a ballot paper so large as to make it impossible to vote in total secrecy, with reluctance I picked up the stubby thick black pencil and used it to indicate ‘none of the above’.

I’ve never had much trust in property developers and their colleagues, but with every passing bad news story about the regeneration of Swindon town centre, the words of the New Swindon Company become less believable. It’s just a couple of weeks since Mr James of the New Swindon Company was claiming that Modus were fully committed to the Regents Place development… which they’d just shelved. Two days ago, after Modus went into administration, Mr James was still as over-optimistic as ever.

Being placed into administration was one of a number of possibilities and therefore we have been looking into how we can still move forward with development at Regent Place… and we will work to get Regent Place back on track.

Now it’s reported that the development is to be scaled back to little more than a supermarket in Granville Street car park.

Maybe there’s room for food retailers to come into the town centre. If there was a big supermarket interested maybe they could go onto the Granville Street car park site. It would be something to attract people in and then there could be restaurants attached to it.

A supermarket. Stunning. And plenty of joined up thinking there as a supermarket is also proposed to occupy the old college building on Victoria Road.

There’s another aspect to this that undermines what little credibility the New Swindon Company had. It’s not so long ago that they were telling us that regeneration is a very long term thing, that couldn’t be blown of course by troubles in the economy, and that Swindon would be a destination to rival others in the south. It’s all different now. Mr James’ has scaled back the ambitions.

We are not trying to compete with Cribbs Causeway or The Oracle. We need to concentrate on making Swindon special and attracting people to the centre. We are looking at bringing more restaurants into the town centre.

Mr Young has forgotten the long term nature of the plans.

The Modus scheme was the right one for the time but we now have to look at how the market has changed and see how our regeneration fits into that…. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on what will bring people to Swindon, considering there are already two huge shopping developments at Bristol and Reading.

And now they’re thinking of another round of ‘consultation’, which will keep them and some consultants in a job whilst nothing much is happening.

This hyperbole and bluster would almost be comical if we weren’t paying dearly for this farce through our taxes.

One of the consequences of the tenants being evicted from the farms in Swindon’s Front Garden — rather far in advance of development starting in earnest — is that most of the fields are now overgrown. The abundance of wild flowers makes it a haven for wildlife. Walking along the footpath from Southleaze to Mill Lane at the weekend, it was alive with butterflies, particularly the migrant Painted Lady (vanessa cardui) species.

Enjoy it whilst you can.

One might think that, with politicians, rightly, getting such a bad press at the moment, they might make some effort to appear to be working purely in the interests of their electorate. But no, of course not. They’re politicians: playing politics comes first.

Thus it is that within a month of the leaders of the local red and blue nests making conciliatory noises about trying to work together more, they’re back to squabbling. Predictable squabbling, with exactly the same accusations as they make every time there’s a similar situation. The council applies for extra subsidy, and each side claims it was entirely down to them and that t’other party was a hindrance. Just what is it about applying for subsidy that they think is worth crowing about? Especially when the conditions attached to the application are such that if the application is unsuccessful we’ll be left worse off than if the application had never been made. And now Mr Montaut has reverted to slinging political jibes, accusing the blues running Swindon Borough Council of being arrogant.

The Tory administration in Swindon is becoming increasingly arrogant in the way that it runs the council…. People feel disconnected from politicians at the moment and it is vital that we show we want to listen to the people who have put their trust in us.

It seems to have escaped Mr Montaut’s attention that at the moment almost nobody is putting any trust in politicians. If they want some of that trust back, not only do they need to get their snouts out of the tax-payers’ trough, they also need to stop indulging in vacuous political point scoring.

At last, we know how much the Radio 1 Big Weekend cost the people of Swindon, about £400,000 — much the same as it has cost other councils. Half of that, £200,000, went on transport and stewarding; another £160,000 on the police and £40,000. What we don’t yet know — and probably won’t for some time, if ever — is what the financial benefit to Swindon was, despite the council’s speculation.

In the absence of much hard evidence, I’m of the view that this was probably money well spent. What worries me is that the council seems to have made little, if any, effort to do the sums in advance. To quote Mr Young.

It was difficult, as we didn’t know how much it would cost but we knew that Cardiff spent £500,000 in 2003.

And that is what they regard as careful financial planning!

Since my posting yesterday, the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, has published a more detailed breakdown of some of the expenses she had earlier grouped together. To be honest, there’s little of interest in this additional detail. One might wonder in what way a vase (£3.99), pictures (£130) and an ornament (£25) were essential to her performing her duties as an MP, or whether they are consistent with yesterday’s claim

my claims should be for expenses I would not have if I was doing another job working in Swindon only, rather than living and working in two places (London and Swindon) as MPs have to.

We can see how she managed to spend over £2000 on her bedroom (£1000 on a bed, over £1100 on wardrobes, cupboards and drawers) and over £4000 on her living room (including £1000 on a suite, then £356 on chairs two years later, and over £700 on storage units and £395 on a TV unit) but that doesn’t make it appear any better value for money. However, what it does is show how shallow is the spin she’s given the Adver.

I would like the House of Commons to have a hotel because all you really need is a crash pad.

If she really believed that all she needs is a crash pad, then would she have bought something that is clearly much more than a crash pad and then furnished it in some style at our expense? Ms Snelgrove’s actions — and her expense claims — speak louder than her words.

In all the furore over MPs’ expenses, Mr Wills must be feeling fairly calm. For some time now he has published full details of his expenses. For example, his statement of expenses for 2008/09 is itemised down to individual items, such as filing folders bought for £3.61 on 23rd March from a supplier called Banner. When it comes to the Additional Costs Allowance (the allowance for second homes and living in said second home) which has been the centre of attention lately, although his claims are not cheap (£19753.56 in 2007/08 and £18476.53 in 2008/09), they are restricted to paying for his mortgage, council tax, utility bills, telephone and insurance.

In contrast, the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, has been far less open. Until today she has published no more than the house of commons authorities published. Her claims do not match her voting record.

I pride myself upon being an open and accountable Member of Parliament and I am happy for my constituents to see what allowances I use in order to serve the people of South Swindon.

Anyone that claims that whilst consistently voting against such openness clearly doesn’t understand what openness and transparency mean. Only in the last month as the anger has mounted does she seem to have had a change of heart.

So it was that late last week Ms Snelgrove put her signature to a letter urging her colleagues to publish their expenses sooner rather than later.

I will be preparing my expenses over the coming days and will make them public to my local newspaper on Monday 18 May at 2pm.

This she has now done, but in comparison with Mr Wills, Ms Snelgrove’s effort is half-hearted: it’s a summary-level breakdown of the Additional Costs Allowance rather than a full breakdown, and there is no breakdown at all of her other allowances. It is also accompanied by a rambling attempt to justify her troughing at the public expense.

In addition to following the rules I have based my expenses claims on two principles ever since I became an MP in 2005.

That’s the now thoroughly discredited rules.

The first is that I don’t want to profit from the taxpayer in the short or long-term.

Well, she may not be profiting, but she’s certainly been living very comfortably — some might say luxuriously — in her second home at our expense. Over £4000 spent on her living room in three years, over £2000 on her bedroom and over £500 on bedding in the same period.

The second is that my claims should be for expenses I would not have if I was doing another job working in Swindon only, rather than living and working in two places (London and Swindon) as MPs have to.

I presume then that she would have chosen to starve if she hadn’t been an MP, as she claimed £4300 on food in one year.

The majority of items I have bought are one-offs, apart from replacement items when a cupboard collapsed and all the contents were smashed, and water damage to towels and bedding following a leak.

Was she not insured? Perhaps not as it was only in 2007/08 that she claimed £137.23 for insurance.

I want to see the House of Commons introduce a system which is transparent yet enables all MPs to fulfill (sic) their parliamentary and constituency duties fully

That’s not what her voting record suggests.

I also pledge to clean up the second jobs scandal, where many MPs work not for their constituencies but for commercial or lobby companies despite receiving a full parliamentary salary.

Lets not forget that every Labour MP is sponsored by a union. It’s not just those with second jobs that represent interests other than those of their constituents.

I want to be accountable to constituents in Swindon South and I want to maintain your trust.

On the evidence so far, Ms Snelgrove’s failed on both counts.

The vanishing redevelopment of Swindon Town Centre

’Twas once the time when the masters of spin were the New Swindon Company, when it came to making out that minor changes to the town centre were stunning improvements. The leaders of Swindon Borough Council have now snatched the spinning baton and would have us believe that the redevelopment of a single department store will now transform the town centre.

It really does beggar belief that the New Swindon Company’s Mr James seems to think that announcing the replacement of a single department store somehow lessens the fact that a major development has been shelved. Regents Place is dead… long live BHS. A £215 M development shelved, but don’t worry, all’s well: one store is spending £25 M. Let’s hope that Mr James never takes up marriage guidance as a profession, as his understanding of commitment is rather unusual.

I am pleased to say that Modus are fully committed to a development in Swindon…. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say when it will get back on track as this depends on when the economy moves out of recession and the property industry regains its equilibrium.

It’s not surprising that many commenters do not believe that Mr James’ Modus bride will ever make it to the development altar.

Yet some of our councillors appear to have even less of a grasp of reality than Mr James. First, as always, there’s Mr Bluh, who sees movement where there’s only stagnation.

I do believe this scheme will go ahead, the momentum the town’s regeneration has created isn’t going to be easily stopped.

Momentum? Where? Unless the momentum Mr Bluh has in mind is downwards, like that of a lead balloon, there is little in evidence. Perhaps he’s still rather over excited after spending the weekend having fun at our expense, but all we’ve got of regeneration so far is one giant television, installed a year ago — which for most of that time has shown little more than news and weather bulletins — and a large number of boarded up demolition sites. The only obvious momentum is the continual spin from politicians about the stalled regeneration. Another spinner is Mr Barnett. He seems to be easily impressed.

It’s going to tidy up an already tired looking building. It’s great news for Swindon. All sides have come on board to provide the town with useful shops in a good looking building.

The plan for BHS’s store is to replace a large windowed concrete and glass building with a large windowed stone-clad concrete and glass building. Stone-cladding have never been so exciting.

It’s a pity that, with there having been such a good response to how the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Lydiard Park was run, the blue nest on Swindon Borough Council have rather spoilt things by indulging in some troughing. In case they’ve not noticed there is a certain amount of public concern at the moment about politicians helping themselves to greater rewards than they deserve. You’d think that only the most arrogant, selfish or naïve local politician would not realise that it’s at best indulgent and at worst downright greedy to use complimentary tickets to attend an event when many of their electorate were unable to do so. Step forward the current Swindon Borough Council cabinet.

Swindon Council’s cabinet has defended the presence of about 15 to 20 Conservative councillors in the VIP area…. Coun Phil Young, the council’s lead cabinet member for culture, said the councillors needed to act as ambassadors.

Just how many ambassadors does one park need? Fifteen to twenty is enough ambassadors for a whole continent.

All of the cabinet and West Swindon councillors had tickets. Cabinet members are the civic leaders of this town and I wanted them to take the lead in hosting. They had to perform a hospitality role and welcome guests.

Hosting whom? From the Adver’s photo they seem to have been busily hosting themselves. Nor does coverage elsewhere show evidence of cabinet members at work.

With the current political furore over MPs’ expenses, the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, is in no position to be giving sermons on this sort of thing. But neither should the council’s cabinet be worshipping at the altar of self-indulgence.

It’s nice to see that the Mechanics Institute Building has received some remedial attention to its roof, to protect the theatre area of the building. The large expanses of blue plastic are not pretty, but it’s better than the building being left more exposed. Of course, if the owner hadn’t removed all the roof tiles several years ago — since when this end of the building has significantly deteriorated — there wouldn’t be a need to cover it over now.