komadori’s green corner

In a generally downbeat service update from Stagecoach in Swindon, where service 7 gets an increase in frequency, but many others are either reduced or axed altogether (R.I.P. the No 54 bus, killed off less than a year after it was re-routed to avoid West Swindon), comes advanced warning of further cuts to come.

Sunday services in the Swindon urban area
We regret that as a result of the total withdrawal of Swindon Borough Council funding for evening and Sunday bus services in Swindon that further changes will have to be introduced from Sunday 5th June 2011 and full details will be given nearer the time.

That’s quite a lot of services that are going to get a rather short back and sides unless Thamesdown and Stagecoach decide they can run them without subsidy. Currently in the evenings services 6, 7, 11, 16, 19, 20, 24, 29 and 72 and on Sundays services 6, 7, 8, 11A, 16, 17 (partly), 19 and 29 are subsidised by Swindon Borough Council.

Now I appreciate that providing a bus as a publicly subsided late night taxi is not a good use of taxpayers’ money — and many of these subsidised bus services do run with none or just one passenger on board — but a few are quite busy. Keeping a bus service running just for the sake of the one service in the middle of the evening that loads well with people heading into town for a night out may not be a viable proposition. But the blanket cut of evening and Sunday services looks like a cut made in haste, rather than a cut done with consideration for where the money could most effectively be saved.

In a move that will come as no surprise to those that have studied Mr John Richard ‘Rikki’ Hunt’s business history, he’s now done a runner from Digital City (UK) Ltd — the wifi network company he set-up — leaving behind almost £½M of overdue debt to Swindon Borough Council. It’s not the first time he’s abandoned a company having lead it to financial disaster, as local football fans know only too well.

As ever on matters related to this shoddy deal, Mr Perkins is on hand, trying to make things sound better than they really are. As usual, most of what Mr Perkins has to say is deceptive. If you’re looking for an honest analysis of the situation, Mr Perkins is not the person to turn to.

He had a lot of problems to overcome which he didn’t appreciate you’d have when involved with the public sector.

Don’t forget — as Mr Perkins seems to have done — that Mr Hunt is very familiar with working with Swindon Borough Council, having been a director of both The New Swindon Company and Swindon Commercial Services.

It’s very difficult for a partnership to go forward when you’re dealing with public money and scrutiny, which quite rightly, there should be.

It seems Mr Perkins has forgotten all the abuse and spite he has vented in the council chamber at anyone daring to question this deal over the last eighteen months.

We’ve learned a lot from this, and I’m sure Rikki Hunt has as well.

I’m sure Mr Hunt has learned a lot… such as how easy it is to get gullible councillors like Mr Perkins to part with taxpayers money, then walk away after eighteen months leaving others to clear up the debts.

With Swindon Borough Council now bunging £610,000 in the direction of its Recreation Centre to right off debts, Highworth will have been the lucky recipient of over £1M of Swindon taxpayers’ money. You could be forgiven for thinking that the local blue nest put keeping their rural voters happy above dealing with the council’s dire financial position. To quote Mr Bluh in the latest edition of Swindon News:

Boiled down, if we are to have a hope of balancing our books, we have two challenges ahead of us. The first is to become as efficient as possible in the way we operate. The second, perhaps more controversially, is to reduce what we currently do.

At the moment, they appear to be doing neither.

I almost felt sorry for Mr Hitchings of Forward Swindon on Saturday, as he tried — with little success — to convince those attending a consultation display at the Central Library, that Muse’s Union Square development was an all-round good thing. There’s really no effective argument one can make against those — and there were several — that are adamant that any development is pointless because “People just don’t want to come to Swindon, they go to Bath.” Nor is there any easy compromise between those that believe there’s no point starting the development now whilst the economy is in a slump — “Just look at those shops they’ve just built. Over half of them are empty. What’s the point of building more?” — and those that can’t see the point of a development that won’t be finished for fifteen years. Trying to convince those that couldn’t and wouldn’t envisage a Swindon any different from how it is now was a pointless task, and I think Mr Hitchings knew that.

For once I found myself relatively impressed by what is planned, and I was not alone in that, though amongst those visiting the exhibition I appeared to be in a small minority. But to my mind there were two things that let down a good outline plan for the development. The first, as already noted by Mr Wakefield, is the hype. Not for the first time, what is nothing more than a development that could be found in many other towns is being touted as mould breaking.

An exceptional town centre regeneration scheme contributing to the renaissance of Swindon

Renaissance? These are plans for offices, not a cultural centre.

Union Square has regeneration at its heart and will provide a vibrant and genuine extension to the town centre.

I have diminishing hopes that one day I might read a developer’s brochure that doesn’t describe their bog-standard plans as ‘vibrant’. And if anyone can tell me what a fake extension to the town centre would be like, I’d be delighted to know.

The other point of concern are the plans for Phase 1 which will occupy the space where the police station once stood.

This first phase of the masterplan will deliver 84 supported housing units, a new high quality multi-storey car park (850 spaces) and space for either a relocated Primary Care Trust or a new office or hotel development.

Oh wow! Yet more flats and another hotel. Just how ‘vibrant’ is that? It must have taken a lot of imagination to come up with that plan. I can imagine it already. The Swindon Renaissance Hotel, serving genuine meals at Vibrant, its stylish carvery and grill….

Just as I was writing that Digital City (UK) Ltd had been lead to failure, it was drawn to my attention that their website has gone offline, replaced by a standard domain parking page. An internet service provider without an internet presence is clearly not one that’s going to get far.

It is normal practice in any private sector company for the executive to have shares either in that company or, is a subsidiary of some larger organisation, in the parent company. For companies traded on a stock market it is often mandatory for the directors to own shares in their company. That way it ensures that their own well-being is most likely to be guaranteed by them ensuring the well-being of their fellow shareholders. A director without shares in their company — according to the accepted logic — is more likely to perform acts of reckless self-interest that damages the company that employs them.

So when Mr John Richard ‘Rikki’ Hunt claims he is going to ‘gift’ his 30% stake in his failing wifi company Digital City (UK) Ltd to Swindon Borough Council, should that be seen as an act of generosity? No. Given that the company has been unable to keep up its loan repayments to the council, and that it has failed almost every target it has set itself, its debatable whether those shares are worth anything anyway. And now Mr Hunt wishes to remain chief executive of the company he’s lead to failure, yet without the financial incentive almost every other company deems essential to ensure a chief executive does their best for the shareholders. That would seem to be a recipe for financial disaster, though Mr Hunt seems to already have achieved that in a fairly comprehensive manner.

Mr Hunt claims that his company was damaged by public criticism.

There has been a lot of effect on the business with the public noise and debates that have gone on… the kind that is politically damaging to us and the aggression towards the project.

Is political discussion really a surprise when he went looking for funding from politicians? And lets be clear, there has been no ‘aggression’ towards ‘the project’, only to the secretive way in which the decision was made to pour the money of Swindon taxpayers into a company that on the evidence available to those taxpayers at the time had no track record in its industry, no credible plans, and no understanding of the market it was entering. The criticisms remain valid, and the taxpayers of Swindon are currently £½M poorer as a result.

When Mr Perkins was appointed as a director of Digital City (UK) Ltd last year, I was told by Mr Bluh that he was selected to represent Swindon Borough Council on the company’s board because of his skill and experience in business. The company of which Mr Perkins is a director has failed to make payments on its loan from the council… and that failure pre-dated by a month Mr Perkins claiming that payments were still being made. According to Mr Perkins, that’s all fine and dandy.

I was asked in December whether it was up to date with its payments, and I said yes — because that’s what I had been told. When I made that statement it was correct, based on the information I had at the time.

Perhaps it’s time that Mr Perkins reminded himself of his obligations under the Companies Act 2006.

(1) A director of a company must exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence.
(2) This means the care, skill and diligence that would be exercised by a reasonably diligent person with—
(a) the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the functions carried out by the director in relation to the company, and
(b) the general knowledge, skill and experience that the director has.

At the moment, Mr Perkins’s diligence in checking his facts before making public statements about Digital City (UK) Ltd appears to be falling far short of reasonable expectations.

Sometimes, returning from a long absence is like awakening from a hibernation: everything is new and fresh. A new beginning. But then there’s times like now when it seems that nothing’s changed.

So what’s not new? Fanciful predictions that the old College building will soon be demolished continue to be peddled by our less-able councillors. Now — as last summer — Mr John Richard ‘Rikki’ Hunt, is begging for money for his tin-pot wifi company that’s taken almost £½M of our money and delivered virtually nothing in return, failing on its commitments whilst it does so.

And the unifying feature of it all? Mr Perkins spouting unadulterated rubbish. For example, Mr Perkins on the old College site:

We’ve been in discussions with the developer for the last few weeks. If that goes through, we’ll start removing the college from Swindon. Hopefully it’ll be going ahead by April.

Would that be April 2012? As the rather more rational Mr Bawden notes, we’ve heard this all before… many times.

We were talking about it when I stepped down. Now five years later, we’re still talking about it! It’s no good saying: it’s all the economy. Until two or three years ago, the economy was going like a rocket…. I get more and more frustrated walking around the town centre, I feel we just don’t really know what to do with it.

Quite. But hey, we’ll soon have yet another person at the council’s expense — over £45,000 of expense — puffing out a smoke screen about grand plans for nothing much in the town centre, when Forward Swindon appoints a new Head of Communications and Marketing.

Mr Perkins on wifi is no more logical, despite his alleged business acumen.

No business in its first year is completely trouble free and most of Highworth is still operating and the technical problems are mostly sorted out.

Given that Digital City (UK) Ltd originally claimed that their wifi in Highworth would be fully functional by 15 January… last year, even someone as politically warped as Mr Perkins should be able to see that’s as shining an example of failure as one could ever hope to see. They may brand themselves as ‘Get Signal’, but in Swindon getting Digital City (UK) Ltd’s signal is one thing you’re guaranteed not to do.

However, things don’t always go as you plan in business, particularly when you are dealing with something that is innovative.

As many have noted — but Mr Perkins and his colleagues choose to ignore — there’s nothing innovative about wifi. Seemingly the only thing innovative about this project has been the company’s ability to pull the wool over the eyes of the likes of Mr Perkins and walk away with £½M of our money whilst delivering almost nothing in return.

Mr Perkins also flatters himself when inviting people to talk with him.

I wish people would come and talk to us if they have a problem, but it has to be in a positive way. Going through reports to find things that are not 100 per cent right is not helpful — business doesn’t operate like that.

As anyone who has seen Mr Perkins in the council chamber will know, taking a positive approach with him is not something he rewards. Mr Perkins in the council chamber has just one mode of operation, a loud-mouthed, bad tempered yob, shouting down anyone he disagrees with, spitting with fury and hatred.

Swindon Borough Council has repeatedly waived the conditions it applied to its loan to Digital City (UK) Ltd. If Mr Perkins isn’t happy with the council being legitimately held to account over how it’s spent our money, then he really shouldn’t be a councillor.

After an absence that’s been far longer than I was intending, today marks the start of a return, though in may be gradual at first. And I’ll start that return with an admission: komadori now resides in a housing development he’s spent much time on this blog criticising.

Over a year ago now, someone living near Swindon’s Front Garden since before the new development — themselves no fan of the concreting over of this once green space — commented that, despite their objections, they might even consider one of the houses themselves. Thus when I came to look for a new nest myself, my thought went to that comment. Months later, komadori is settled into his own little box in Wichelstowe.

My view of the development remains unchanged: the Victorian look is a distinctly fake look. Having looked at several of the little boxes before making my choice it also confirmed my view that the differences between the boxes are just superficial. Behind the differing façades in East Wichel are mainly standard Taylor Wimpey/Bryant, Barratt/David Wilson, Bloor or Sovereign boxes. I’d also prefer that they hadn’t been built at all. But they have been built. And for the foreseeable future one of them will be komadori’s home.

Regular readers may have noticed that recently it has been a little quite at komadori’s green corner. I’ve been busy, so much so that there’s been little time to comment on the ongoing saga of wifi (not) happening in Swindon, nor on the prolonged attempts by the council to remove street traders from town centre streets. I’ve not even had time to observe, until now, how the recent law allowing people to petition councils is now exposing the atrocious behaviour of some Swindon councillors to a much wider audience. I’m still watching, but have not the time to write much.

Today komadori is undertaking a short migration, to a new nest near the edge — for the moment — of town. Normal service should resume once the new nest has been adequately feathered, and duties elsewhere return to a less frenzied level. Blogging will remain light until then.

’Tis a little unfortunate that Swindon Borough Council completed removing the roof of the northern part of the GWR Mechanics Institution building just as there were several days of very heavy rain. Rain and exposed ceilings don’t mix. Well, actually, they do mix, into a rather soggy mess. And of course, despite these being ‘urgent’ works, when the rain started, the work stopped. The once Great Hall is now rather well ventilated, with an excellent view of the night sky.




All photographs © komadori, all rights reserved.