komadori’s green corner

For months now, English Heritage have been saying to the developer who owns The Mechanics Institute that they want more details about his plans, and the developer asks, ‘what details do you want?’… And nothing happens. Now empty buildings (especially big empty buildings) do not make money (but they don’t cost much to maintain either), so one would have thought there was a financial incentive on the developer to make a sensible effort to resolve this impasse. Similarly, as the building is on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register, one would think they would be eager to resolve the issue too. Apparently not. The developer’s new proposal to demolish part of the building seems a very blunt approach to trying to re-start dialogue. Might not use of a telephone be more effective and easier? There’s no suggestion from either side that this has been tried in the intervening months. As the saying goes, an Englishman’s home is his castle. It shouldn’t be his pawn. Still, if my earlier suggestion were correct, demolition might yet be the most effective route to restoration.

Only a little over a month since I last passed this way, and a tarmacked road now cuts across half of the Swindon front garden. No sign of new bricks on mortar yet though.

I doubt it. Almost certainly delusions of importance, if the words of the independent candidate in the recent election have been correctly reported. His former colleagues in the red nest may be annoyed that he chose to stand against one of their elders but, as an independent, he was hardly a threat.

A FORMER mayor who chased two youths who had just smashed his car window says he thinks that yob culture has taken hold…. Mr Cox… was an independent candidate standing for Central Swindon at last week’s borough council elections.

Before travelling to the Oasis leisure centre to wait for the results to come in, the rear window of [his partner’s] white Mazda was smashed.

He said: “I’m very angry this has happened. I don’t know if this was a political act or not, but even if it wasn’t it’s stupid and pointless…. We are quiet people who are peaceful and enjoy our garden. We have done nothing to provoke this.”

It is not known what the two teenage assailants used to break the window as no brick or heavy object was found by the car…. Police are looking for two youths, who are about 15.

With less than a third of the ward electorate voting and our ex-mayor getting less than 5% of the votes, it would be a miracle if the two youths even knew of his past, or his present ambitions.

I’ve been reading through the latest version of Swindon Borough Council’s Central Area Action Plan which is now out for consultation. It’s nice to see that, as hoped for, the Green Spine now has a bit more body to it, looking a little like a headless running stickman (though I think I detect a green football and a green sombrero in there too).

The plan includes some masterpieces of thoughtful insight. An observation on page 27 is the epitome of this erudition.

[Crime] hotspots remain and concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour are still evident in Central Swindon, and in particular in the Bridge Street and Fleet Street Area. In this area, the peak times for violent offences, is in the evenings and at weekends, which suggests a strong link with alcohol misuse.

Only suggests? Move on to page 65.

The dominance of drinking establishments in the Fleet Street area has by a large margin given rise to more crime in the area than at any other location in Swindon.

Aah… a little bit of realism at last. More seriously, this unclear thinking goes deeper than just presenting the obvious as thoughtful observations. When considering the not-so-obvious, some of the statements are, with a little thought, just plain wrong. Move on to page 94.

A significant proportion of these private rented properties are Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs). This high proportion of private rented accommodation is to a large extent a by-product of the exodus of families from Central Swindon.

To confuse ‘cause and effect’ with ‘supply and demand’ is a serious mistake in a document whose prime purpose is to regulate the supply of property over the next twenty years.

I’d have thought it was obvious that those who had chosen not to vote online and turned up on election day at the polling station would, in most cases, prefer to vote in the conventional manner. A few moments to put a cross on a piece of paper, or over a minute to work through several screens of an online system? Rather a no-brainer, isn’t it? Apparently not to those at Swindon Borough Council that were presiding over the election. Not only were some polling stations completely unready, initially, for those wishing to put a cross in a box on a ballot paper, but even when they were ‘correctly’ set-up, laptops in booths outnumbered blunt, short stumpy pencils hanging in booths by five-to-one in many cases. And the need for people to assist voters with the electronic voting added two extra staff to most polling stations compared with previous years.

Then there was the fragility of the communications system. I’m prepared to accept (just) that the unreliability of the wireless communications from the polling stations could not have been foreseen, but were wireless connections, from urban polling stations, really necessary?

After some extra checks, necessitated by the breakdown in communication, the electronic votes were finally delivered two and a half hours after the paper votes had been counted. And the benefit of all this new technology making it ‘easier’ to vote? A turnout slightly down on last year.

After a good night’s sleep (and a not so good day at work), time to reflect on the outcome of the election. In Central Ward the result was a win for Derique Montaut (47%) with Karen Leakey in second (29%), Steve Pipe third (13%) and the other two less than 10% each.

So a negative campaign won? Actually, I don’t think so. This ward is traditional red nest territory, but not so strong that a good local candidate could not come close, very close, as happened for one blue egg in 2004. But no matter how strong a candidate is, if incumbent councillors from the same nest seem to have no interest in their ward, it will be a struggle to break through. (The two incumbent blue nest councillors were both defectees from other nests.)

There is a monthly free news sheet, Central Outlook, distributed throughout inner Swindon. In it, all the councillors of Central, Gorse Hill & Pinehurst, Eastcott and Western Ward have column space, as do the two Swindon MPs. All use the space… except for the blue nest councillors for Central. Unlike their red nest counterpart, their piece has been noticeably lacking since one of them chose to seek re-election elsewhere. Visibility for councillors’ activities is generally low, so opportunities like this to address one’s electors should be used. For the last six months the answer to the question ‘What are the blue nest councillors in this ward doing for us?’ has been an echoing silence.

Seems I was wrong about electronic voting speeding the count. The ballots papers had all been counted for Central ward half-an-hour ago. It’s the electronic votes that are delaying the result. The online vote checking service (by which I should be able to check receipt of my vote) isn’t working either: ‘The receipt cannot be generated yet as not enough data is available.’ The wonders of modern technology…. If it’s not announced soon I’m likely to fall asleep before the declaration.

With electronic voting having been taking place since last Thursday, leaving it until the afternoon of the (final) polling day to distribute your only leaflet is a little bit too late.
It’s better than nothing though. I’ve received not a single chirp from the green nest (perhaps trying to be more ‘environmentally friendly’ than is good for their electoral prospects) nor the yellow nest (tho’ one councillor from the yellow nest told me I should have received four leaflets by last weekend).

With electronic voting at the polling stations today too, the count should be quick. Unfortunately, although conventional stubby-black-pencil-on-ballot-paper voting was also meant to be available, some polling stations weren’t ready for this when they openned.

Apparently, Swindon was under a rather nasty cloud this evening.

THE sky above the town was filled with giant clouds of toxic smoke after a pile of 8,000 tyres caught light.
Twenty-two firemen tackled the giant pyre, which started burning around 7pm tonight at Lower Burytown Farm between Blunsdon and Highworth….
Clouds were visible for miles on the Swindon skyline, prompting onlookers to visit from as far away as Penhill.

News to me. At that time (7.40 pm to 8 pm, to be precise) I was on my way to a town-centre pub, facing towards Blunsdon as I walked, under a clear sky.

Update, 3 May 2007: The Adver has now put ‘dramatic pictures’ on its website. It’s clearly a big fire but does it show ‘the sky above the town was filled with giant clouds’? No. One big black cloud over open fields, that’s all.

It has now been confirmed that the online voting system does allow a spoilt ballot ‘paper’.

But with all this technology is it still possible to get it wrong?
Yes explained Mr Winchcombe [Swindon deputy returning officer]. By failing to select any candidate on screen or by voting for more than one candidate.
“But you will get a warning on screen asking if this is really what you want to do though,” he added.

It’s nice to know that the option of last resort is still available.