Tag: parties

I’ve no idea how Mr Wills thinks pollsters earn their living, but apparently it’s not from running surveys. In what is becoming an annual argument over free travel for pensioners, he seems to think that Swindon Borough Council can obtain a survey for nothing.

In these difficult economic times I am not asking the council to spend more money but only to conduct a survey to see whether passengers can get what they are asking for without any extra burden on the taxpayer.

Surveys cost money… unless you want something that’s so poor as to not be worth the effort. It also doesn’t take much thought to work out that, if some pensioners are currently paying to travel before 9.30 am — which the comments in the Adver report show they are — then giving them free travel will cost the taxpayer money.

Whether or not the extra cost’s as much as the £230,000 claimed by Mr Bluh is another matter. That figure corresponds to roughly 2700 extra pensioners travelling in the extra half hour each week.

With the current financial problems caused by far too many people — including Mr Brown’s government — borrowing far more than they can afford, you might think that the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, would recommend a little caution with how the council spends our money. No, she wants Swindon Borough Council to join the throwing-money-at-bad-debts party.

We all have to make sure that people are helped so I think that Swindon Council should be looking at its capital reserves and seeing if it can do something even if it is a one-off. Clever accountants can do clever things.

Leaving aside the banality of that last sentence, Ms Snelgrove seems not to have noticed that it’s clever accountants that weren’t quite as clever as they thought that got us into this mess. But then, Ms Snelgrove has never been one to allow reality or the needs of Swindon to get in the way of her spouting her party’s latest spin… which she is doing in abundance.

Government is not sitting back and doing nothing, it has cut VAT to put cash into more people’s pockets and there are a number of measures that the Government is carrying out to help hard-working families.

Ah, how generous of the government to allow us to keep a bit more of our own money, not that 2½p in the pound (or 0p in the pound on essentials like food) is going to make much of a difference when many retailers are already discounting prices heavily. And as the government’s intending to take this and much more back later in far higher taxes, this is really nothing more than an electoral gimmick, trying to bribe people — using their own money — into keeping Mr Brown and his fellow economic incompetents in power.

We are living in extraordinary times and we all need to be thinking about what action we could be taking and it is not just central Government that should be acting.

The only action I’m thinking of taking is voting for a party that doesn’t lie about ‘An end to boom and bust’, doesn’t lie in order to take the country to war, and is rather more careful what it does with our money.

Is so nice to know that, when a group of local people — taxi drivers in this case — suggest brightening up Swindon by putting a Christmas tree in the centre of the Magic Roundabout, Swindon’s clown-councillor, Mr Montaut is ready with the baa-humbug spirit of Christmas.

I have been saying for years that something more needs to be done with the Magic Roundabout – it is a landmark for Swindon but people are disappointed when they see it. But this is not the right way to do it – a Christmas tree could be a danger to drivers.

Only if it’s illuminated like a Las Vegas casino, Mr Montaut.

If the Tories do manage to put it up it’ll be the only piece of cheer we’ll get from them this year.

And the red nest has done what for Swindon during the last year? Aah, I remember… nothing. If a tree is such a dangerous idea, what alternatives has Mr Montaut got to offer?

I have suggested some form of tower, or maybe a statue. Considering it is so close to the football club we could have something representing great players from the past – I think Don Rogers kicking a football would be a good symbol for the town.

And they’d be less distracting than a tree?

Let’s hope Mr Montaut never ventures in a car out to the country. With all those trees around to distract him, he’d find it hard to stay on the road.

Whilst browsing the local red nest’s website, I came across a page titled ‘Labour Party across Swindon’ which is ‘dedicated to the work that happens across the borough, containing news and views of members and activists who engage in important work within your community’. It seems they’re not doing very much work: the page is blank.

Once again, one story has outshone all others in Swindon this week: Swindon Borough Council’s decision to withdraw from the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership. In amongst all the political ya-boo politics, it’s been noticeable that both Mr Wills and Ms Snelgrove have moderated the tone of their views, though only a little.

As it became that the council was not going to back down, that there was more to this than just political grandstanding, in addition to stating their opposition, they added something else. That it was up to the council to show that its new plans for road safety would be more effective than staying in the camera partnership. Which is what the discussion should have been about all along. And with Swindon having just three fixed speed cameras for its contribution of over £300,000, will that really be so difficult to achieve?

With the economy in crisis and an economic and diplomatic feud with Iceland brewing, you’d think Mr Brown would be busy with the important affairs of government…. Nope, he’s been breezing through Swindon on his way to open a literature festival. Admittedly, he was in Swindon to talk about economics, but it’s hardly an efficient use of the PM’s time.

Politicians have a poor reputation when it comes to being honest and truthful. So you’d think that any politician keen to improve their credibility would, when they have to go back on a commitment made earlier — to ‘secure’ playing fields for community enjoyment after a school closes, say — try to show some real regret and to explain carefully the reason for abandoning their earlier commitments. I guess Mr Sammels cares little for his credibility.

It was out of our control. The plans have changed, as since then there has been further consultation. I am glad we are keeping the leisure centre at the site but it is a shame they are building on that part of the land. But it is the only land they can use.

To say that ‘The plans have changed’ is stating the obvious and explains nothing. If by ‘our’ Mr Sammels is referring just to himself and his fellow St Philips ward councillors, then that is a rather narrow interpretation that few will accept. Mr Sammels is from the nest that controls Swindon Borough Council and this is land owned by the council being sold to fund school development for the council. The economics may have changed since last year; control of the council has not.

Behaviour like this deserves all the ridicule it has received.

’Tis odd what Mr Wills thinks will impressive his constituents. There’s many that question the value to Swindon of the New Swindon Company — there’s little that it does that seemingly would not happen if it didn’t exist. Having claimed it as his own creation. it’s not surprising that he’s somewhat disappointed that the company disapproves of his own government’s reduction to business rate relief on empty commercial properties. That Mr Wills regards concern over a policy that is leading to premature demolition of vacant commercial properties in central Swindon as “destructive, ill-informed game-playing” and has nothing constructive to say himself on the issue suggests that he cares little for the town he represents. In Swindon, the widespread demolition ahead of regeneration now delayed by the stalling economy is a clear blight on the town centre. The concerns raised deserve a considered response.

Having ignored the story when it was first reported, and again later, it’s probably no surprise that I don’t have strong views as to whether Swindon should or should not be part of the Wiltshire & Swindon Safety Camera Partnership. I don’t have any sympathy for anyone that gets caught speeding: if you break the law and get caught, tough. I do care about my money being used in the most effective way and like many I’m not convinced that cameras are as good a road safety measure as some would make out — but that doesn’t mean I want to get rid of all of them.

What has been most disappointing about all of this and has, I suspect, done nothing for the reputation of either Mr Bluh or Ms Snelgrove and her entourage, is the rapid descent into petty politicking. The willingness of Ms Snelgrove to distort the facts behind the current state of speed cameras in Swindon and the effects of their removal hardly befits someone accusing her opponents of ‘playing politics with lives’. (And who other than Ms Snelgrove could regard something as a stealth tax if money goes to local government but not a stealth tax whilst it goes to central government?)

The original motion at last November’s council meeting proposing withdrawal from the safety camera partnership was itself laden with party political point scoring. To respond in a similar, but worse, manner just helps to lower the already poor reputation that politicians, and Ms Snelgrove in particular, already have.

Yesterday, the Adver reported on a week in the life of three councillors: Messrs Tomlinson, Pajak and Montaut. All three seem keen to stress how much more there is to their public service than attending council meetings. I wouldn’t deny that. But all three of these councillors have had quite good attendance rates at meetings. It comes as no surprise that they are as diligent when away from the council offices.

What would be more interesting is to see the diaries of Messrs Wiltshire, Dobie and Baker. Do they make up for their poor attendance at council meetings with their other councillor duties, or do they put in a matching performance?