Tag: Swindon

Compare and contrast. The leader of Swindon Borough Council, Roderick Bluh, quoted at the beginning of July.

We have been having discussions with various universities, but this is about what is best for Swindon not what is best for developers.

And quoted today, less then four weeks later.

Before a university can be brought to Swindon there would have to be discussions with the council and MPs and as far as I know there hasn’t. We have certainly not been party to any discussions about a university and the developers should certainly be pushed on who this university is.

That looks like a bad case of amnesia to me.

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.

Having done a fairly rapid U-turn last year when their new residents’ parking policy of one permit per house ran into strong public opposition, Swindon Borough Council is having another go. This year’s policy appears to be blatant buck-passing.

A Residents’ Parking Advisory Group made up of elected members will also represent the wishes of locals. It is said to be one of the first of its kind in the country.

Strange… I was sure I already had some elected representatives. They’re called councillors.

It’s nice to see that the BBC can still be quick off the mark and first with the news. Over a month after it was reported in the Adver and commented on here, the Beeb has finally caught up on the work being done by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to improve access to the River Ray and modify the local environment for the benefit of riverside wildlife. The work started yesterday, but the news release from a month ago is unchanged. Some of Jo Sayers’ comments from that news release which the Beeb quotes now have a certain irony to them now that they didn’t have a month ago when quoted by the Adver.

At the moment, in some places the river is so overgrown that people can’t even see it.

Recently, some would say we’ve been seeing rather too much of the river.

I have been reading the draft Community Strategy for Swindon which is currently open for consultation. It is produced by the Swindon Strategic Partnership (a government decreed body that oversees the strategy-document-heavy, consultation-rich, activities of the Swindon Local Area Agreement Partnership). It is called ‘A Shared Vision for Swindon 2008–2030’ but reads more like a socialist vision for Swindon.

These community leaders focus on the future and work in partnership to make decisions which deliver real benefits to the whole community. They don’t work in isolation, though: local people are passionate about the quality of their neighbourhoods and are involved in their development and improvement. Most importantly, those local people are happy to invest their time and energy to keep their neighbourhoods safe, clean and attractive….
This goal is achieved by public-sector organisations, voluntary groups and local people all working closely to promote healthy living and create caring, cohesive neighbourhoods….
By 2030, local communities are working with public organisations – like the police, the borough council and a wide range of voluntary groups, at neighbourhood level – to reduce crime, keep people safe and develop a sense of community and belonging.

Apparently, the private sector has no role in Swindon in 2030, except for providing jobs and paying taxes.

Seventy nine days after I sent them my comments, thirty five days after the closing date for the consultation, the Forward Planning Group at Swindon Borough Council have sent me an acknowledgement slip.

Consultation on the Swindon Central Area Action Plan

Thank you for your representation on the Swindon Central Area Action Plan ‘Preferred Options’ Paper.

We will write to you in due course to advise you on how your representation is being considered.

Why would I want to know how my comments are being considered? Presumably various people will read the comments submitted, possibly summarise the comments of many for wider consideration, others will think about what has been written then draw some conclusions and make a decision or two. I know what the overall process is because it was described in the consultation documents. What I would like to know is what the outcome of the consultation is. How they get there, provided it is consistent with the process the council has already described, is very much of secondary importance.

I’d also be interested to know why, when I submitted my comments by email, the Forward Planning Group insist on responding by snail mail.

Whilst I may have concerns about the developments on the Front Garden (not least the possible need for occupants to travel by boat rather than car), for the Swindon Front Garden Action Group to claim that there was

between 1ft and 1.5ft of water covering many areas where houses are set to be built and where roads into the site have already been created.

is only half true. Some of the main roads on the site were flooded. The areas where the houses will be built were not. Even just a quick look at the plans shows that all the housing, retail and industrial developments are on higher land. As the man from the developers said

All residential development on Wichelstowe will be outside the predicted flood plain and will be built with ground floors at least 600mm above the predicted worst case flood level to give an added degree of certainty that it will not suffer in times of flood.

However, he wouldn’t be a developer if he could resist the urge to indulge in a little spinning.

Similarly all of the distributor roads serving the residential areas are designed to be above the flood level so that the communities are not cut off.

I guess the road I photographed must be serving something other than residential areas… a water park, perhaps?

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.

I’m not sure whether the developers of Swindon’s front garden are intending to offer dinghies with their houses, but perhaps they should. In the plans, most of the area in the first photograph below is going to be a lake. The other photographs show what, in the plans, will be the main river access road to West Wichel.

The lake

The main access road

The wandering Councillor Glaholm (who chairs Swindon Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee) has escaped with a formal police caution. He seems quite keen to play down what this outcome implies.

The only thing I am going to say is that I haven’t been charged and the matter is closed and my solicitor advised me to make no further comment and I won’t.

One does not get a police caution through being innocent. To quote the Criminal Records Bureau:

A caution is a formal warning about future conduct given by a senior police officer, usually in a police station, after a person has committed an offence. It is used as an alternative to a charge and possible prosecution.

and to quote from the Home Office:

A caution can be given when there is sufficient evidence for a conviction and it is not considered to be in the public interest to institute criminal proceedings. Additionally, the offender must admit guilt and consent to a caution in order for one to be given.

It would be interesting to know in what way it was not in the public interest to proceed with a prosecution in this case.