It’s so nice to see that Councillor Montaut retains his ability to make stupid statements. This time, commenting on the Streets for Living project in the Broadgreen area of Central Ward which he represents.
It is a positive initiative that we welcome, because the area is in need of support. There has been massive investment in the town centre and it is crucial that attention is paid to the wards further afield.
Err… what was the name of the ward again?
I see that whilst I have been away, quite a fight has broken out over waste and recycling collections in central Swindon.
Now that a quango has changed its guidance on alternate weekly collections, particularly in relation to food waste, Councillor Montaut has written an open letter to Mr Wren, the councillor in charge of waste and recycling, questioning the decision to collect ‘non-recyclable’ waste once per fortnight, and has then gone on to play petty politics with the issue. It is also worth noting that Mr Montaut is rather selecive in which parts of said quango’s guidance he chooses to take note of, with some of his points (e.g. about the effect of fortnightly collections on recycling rates) totally contradicting the same guidance document that he quotes elsewhere.
What Mr Montaut hasn’t questioned are the rules about who does and who does not get a wheelie bin, which seem to have been applied differently in the vicinity of the council leader’s home than the rest of central Swindon. But then, frequency of collection is, to some extent, an issue for all of Swindon, whereas the problem of where to put a wheelie bin is only an issue in the cramped terraces of central Swindon, so, as he lives in Moredon (oddly enough the ward of Councillor Wren), Mr Montaut is not personally affected.
(I note in passing that, according to the August edition of Swindon News, the start date for fortnightly wheelie bin collections has been put back from September to November, though they will be introduced over just two weeks from 5th November rather than over six months as originally advertised.)
Aah, it’s so nice to see that the MP for North Swindon is once again not letting reality get in the way of a quick party-political jibe.
Most of the proposed changes will leave areas of Swindon with reduced bus services despite the fact that Thamesdown Transport appear to be profitable enough to pay Swindon Borough council £250,000 a year in dividends. If the Council gave back this bonus, Thamesdown Transport might be able to keep some of the services they are planning to cut. Many constituents have already expressed their dismay about these proposals to me and I have now written to other residents affected by these changes to ask for their views. I hope that both Thamesdown Transport and Swindon Borough Council will re-think these proposals.
Hmm. The problem with that argument is that, as the council is both owner of Thamesdown Transport and provider of subsidies for unprofitable bus services, it’s all just a money-go-round. As pointed out by the bus company’s managing director, some of the services to be reduced are operated for Swindon Borough Council, not as commercial services (though some others are not). And in the bus company’s own words
Where there are growing numbers using the buses, such as in North Swindon, we propose to improve services. In other areas, where not enough use is being made of them, they would be reduced.
That’s north Swindon where the services will be improved, Mr Wills’ own constituency… just not the parts of it with a track-record of voting for his red-nest comrades.
There seems to have been a slight reversal in which councillor gets the front page treatment for their misdemeanours. This time it is Councillor Heenan making the headlines for driving without insurance and not displaying a tax disk, whilst Councillor Glaholm’s resignation from the chair of Swindon Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee (following his recent indiscretions) has yet to be reported in any place of significance. I just hope Councillor Heenan is better at town planning than he is at planning (and monitoring) his car insurance renewal.
The deputy leader of Swindon’s red nest seems unsure as to what caused one councillor’s encounter with the law to make it to the front page of the local rag, and another councillor’s encounter with the law just got a small mention on the inside pages.
Two Councillors in the paper too for alleged misdemeanours. Interesting one is a front page article and the other one a few lines on an inside page. Not sure if that’s due to the worlds obsession with sex, or political bias?
Unless she has never read a UK newspaper, I’d have thought that was simple to answer. The outspoken Councillor Glaholm arrested for kerb-crawling, or Councillor Heenan charged with failing to produce a driving licence, driving without insurance and failing to display a valid vehicle excise licence (and one of those charges already dropped, apparently). For an editor of a local daily paper with nothing much to report and looking for a salacious headline, the choice is obvious.
Shock, horror… very little has happened whilst I’ve been concentrating on the pain in my shoulder rather than the local news. The aforementioned Councillor Glaholm has flown his nest, influenced, in part, by a below-the-belt election letter distributed in several wards, and the response from his former nest.
I was appalled when I saw it and I could not believe that someone in the group would stoop so low, and then for them to make light of it and make out it was nothing was just outrageous. Hopefully, sometime in the near future the person responsible for the leaflet will be disciplined by the party.
The only other thing that caught my attention was the local railway company’s decision to reduce some off-peak fares. Given that off-peak trains between Swindon and Gloucester have been almost empty for years, one wonders why it has taken so long for them to reduce the fare by 48%.
This doesn’t really come as a surprise. Today my local MP was amongst the hypocrites that voted to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act.
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.
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, Councillor Glaholm has had a little dig at one of the ministers from the national red nest. Not quite the ‘grilling’ it was headlined as, but certainly stronger stuff than either of the local MPs have been heard to say.
Ms Kelly: We have a Government initiative to build more homes and £60,000 homes for first-time buyers will be available in Swindon.
Cllr Glaholm: She may have said affordable homes costing £60,000 were coming to Swindon, but I think that’s rubbish. Where are they? I can’t see any.
Either a piece of clever politicking, just before polling day, or a rather rash outburst. Difficult to tell.