• Support jobs with money raised from repeating the bank bonus tax – not hold back recovery with the VAT rise and cuts that will put almost one million workers out of their jobs.
• Protect police numbers – not cut them while wasting £100 million on new elected police commissioners.
• Protect your frontline local services – not make unfair cuts which will hit the least well off the most.
• Get the deficit down through strong growth and sensible cuts – not by slashing too far, too fast, and putting your local economy at risk.
• Stand up for young people – not kick away the ladder by tripling tuition fees; scrapping EMAs; cancelling Building Schools for the Future; and slashing school sport

DOWNLOAD THE SWINDON LABOUR MANIFESTO 2011

Voting Stations are open from 7am till 10pm.

Guidance on voting procedure is available from Swindon Borough Council.

Labour Candidates and their contact numbers are:

1. Abbey Meads – Mark Viner (07811 142 413).
2. Central – Derique Montaud (07711 556 261).
3. Covingham & Nythe – Peter Watts (01793 529163).
4. Dorcan – Ged Meheran (07989 918 352).
5. Eastcott – Chris Watts (07776 238 327).
6. Freshbrook & Grange Park –  Neil Heavens (07817 262 258).
7. Gorsehill & Pinehurst – John Ballman (01793 694 584).
8. Haydon Wick – Tim Page (07717 669944).
9. Highworth – Anthea Beaumont (01793 762 517).
10. Moredon – Jenny Millin (07879 023 903).
11. Old Town - Cindy Matthews (01793 644 388).
12. Parks – Fay Howard (07952 350 656).
13. Penhill – Paul Baker (01793 334 598).
14. Shaw & Nine Elms – Michael Heal (07810 872 849).
15. St Margaret – Nigel Chalk (01793 346165).
16. St Philips – Joe Tray (07813 170 202).
17. Toothill – Steve Wakefield (07775 911 922).
18. Walcot – Ellen Osa (07577 923 694) .
19. Wroughton – Geraint Day (07753 957 565).
20. Western – Des Moffatt (07709 066 707).

Polling Stations locations are available from THIS LINK:

To use this link you’ll need to know your Polling District. Check on your card – the Districts in each Ward are as follows:

1. Abbey Meads - AM1-AM4.
2. Central – CE1-CE4.
3. Covingham & Nythe – CN1-CN4.
4. Dorcan – DN1-DN4.
5. Eastcott – ET1-ET5.
6. Freshbrook & Grange Park –  FG1-FG4.
7. Gorsehill & Pinehurst – GH1-GH3.
8. Haydon Wick – HG1-HG5.
9. Highworth – HW1-HW5.
10. Moredon – MD1-MD6.
11. Old Town - TL1-TL5.
12. Parks – PK1-PK4.
13. Penhill – PH1-PH4.
14. Shaw & Nine Elms – SE1-SE4.
15. St Margaret – SM1-SM3.
16. St Philips – SP1-SP6
17. Toothill – TW1-TW3.
18. Walcot – WA1-WA3.
19. Wroughton – WC1-WC5.
20. Western – WE1-WE4.

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OFFER YOUR HELP IN NORTH SWINDON OR SOUTH SWINDON

Three of Central and Local Government’s key priorities must be to train our town’s young for the jobs of the future, ensure that there are jobs in our town for our current young people and support our vulnerable young people and families. The Tory-led government and Tory-led Council have failed in delivering any of these priorities.

They have failed to train our young for the jobs of the future, by cutting funding to 26 of Swindon’s schools and failing to deliver apprenticeships to our town, with Swindon having one of the worst apprenticeship levels in the country.

The Tory-led Council and Tory-led government have failed with delivering jobs for our current youth, with Swindon having one of the worst levels of youth unemployment in the South West and our Future Jobs Fund being scrapped, which cost Swindon’s youth 454 jobs.

And the Tory-led Council has failed to support vulnerable young people and families, by cutting Swindon’s SureStart funding by 20% and hiking up fees of Council services, which are mostly relied on by Swindon’s disadvantaged young people and families.

The Swindon Labour Party believes this neither meets the jobs nor fairness test. Labour-led Swindon Borough Council would:

• Raise apprenticeships and vocational training up the Council’s priority scale, working with both small and large companies in Swindon to ensure much higher levels of apprenticeships in the town than are currently available.
• Prioritise the establishment of a University for Swindon to unlock the talents of local young people
• Mitigate any cuts being imposed by Central Government on Swindon’s SureStart Children Centers
• Protect vulnerable young people from hikes in charges for Council services, by piloting schemes like the rolling out of free Swindon Cards to all 11-16 year olds

I know what it is like to lose your job in the current market and how hard it is to find a new job in Swindon.  That’s why the local economy and jobs will be my priority.

I will campaign against Tadpole Farm development.  This development of up to 2000 houses will put extra pressure on

• Roads
• Schools
• Local facilities and services

I will work with all local communities so that all voices of Abbey Meads, Oakhurst, Redhouse, Groundwell West, Ash Break, St Andrews Ridge, Groundwell West  and Taw Hill are heard and we’re not just dictated to by developers.

Under a Labour Swindon Council there will be a plan for:

• Economic growth
• Jobs for the future
• Regeneration to the town centre
• Better public transport links

We have already seen from the Tory budget an increase in VAT to 20%, cut in child benefits and 2.5 million unemployed with the highest number of youth unemployment.

In Swindon the cuts will hurt the young, elderly and vulnerable:

• £860,000 to help young people back to work
• £1.5 million adults and elderly care budgets
• £494.000 for help for schools

In may let’s make it a referendum on this underperforming Tory council.

Mark Viner, Labour Candidate, Abbey Meads Ward.

Some of the big councils like Birmingham have already cut £10 million pounds from their staffing budget.  However what is worrying is that any jobs will only come from growth. After Thatcher’s war on the machines it took 7 years to create 2 million jobs,  and after Major’s disaster it took 9.5 years to create 2 million jobs. That was with growth between 3.2 – 3.6%, it is being forecast that growth will be around 2.35% during the next 5 years.

For the next 5 years it will be grim and there is no great hope from the private sector. Jobs are more likely to be created in the South-east and Midlands. I predict that there will be a lag in jobs creation and that Swindon will be behind the likes of Bristol and Reading as Swindon people travel to work there. If staff are willing to travel to areas along the M4 corridor then why would a business move to Swindon? Would it want to relocate here in the time of cost reduction if the skill is willing to travel to the business?

Some 9% of graduates from last year are unemployed and these people are relatively cheap to employ and with a degree represent a high level of education, knowledge and are trainable. With an introduction of tuition fees it may cause problems in the HE sector and will that mean that Swindon is more or less likely to have its own university? How long before Swindon is offering a rent one office get one free?

The years 2011/15 are going to be tough on all members of the workforce and a strain Swindon’s economy. That is why we must fight the cuts, preserve services and also protect our local economy from the LibDem Conservative coalition slash and burn.

Well thank you Mr Economist for stating the blatantly obvious, but we have to deal with the reality of what is happening. The appetite to solve the housing problem after 30 years is now becoming critical and what have the Libdem Conservatives offered? Confusion and warm words. If the LibDem Conservative government is committed to “Localism” then allow the Swindon people and their council the resources and freedom to solve their own housing shortage. We have the space, but little resources, there are many restrictions placed on the finances and yet the demand of the ever growing numbers of families wanting accommodation is being met by temporary solutions from existing housing stock numbers in this town.

People travel to work in Swindon and people live here but travel out to work. This demonstrates that housing is not a local issue it does not fit within the electoral boundaries that confine Swindon. The need to work with our neighbouring authorities is something we cannot ignore as pressures there will drive people here to look for housing, which is already scarce. Swindon council has for almost 40 years been entrepreneurial and innovative in providing housing for all sectors of the community and all tenures. The Old Thamesdown was way ahead of its time in tackling,  planning and delivering housing for people in this town.

The current Conservative administration shows complete disregard for that successful trackrecord of acheivement and heaps derision on it by refering to it as the Borough of Thumbsdown. This disregarding of history means that they have not built on the lessons of cutting bureacracy, strong partnership working and neighbourhood planning with the community leading the process. What is needed for the future is a plan that needs to be drawn up during the next 2 years whilst the tide of building is on the ebb. So that when it surges this council is ready to start with its plan to satisfy the housing needs in Swindon.

In Wiltshire the council is forging ahead with its policy of total community place with its aim to have a single community plan that covers its 500,000 population and its diverse communities. It is ambitious and is being built from the bottom up from the smallest hamlet and parish through to its cities and conurbations.

Labour in Government pioneered plans for Strong and Prosperous communities.  Labour’s future plans for housing in Swindon will have to be no less ambitious than those of one of its forerunners Thamesdown Borough Council and far more inclusive than the current Conservative administration. We will be willing to grasp localism by the scruff of its neck and shake it up to make sure that ideas are not floated from the top and then pushed down onto a bewildered community.  Come and join Labour and contribute to the future of Swindon and have your say about housing.

That there is a strong mechanism for ensuring checks and balances and are subject to rigorous security during their term of service. This reason for this is that this is a powerful position for anyone to occupy and the public must be reassured that the law is administered without favour or ill will. I would expect this person to undertake a solem oath of undertaking on being elected and before discharging the duties of their office sworn before the highest judge in an open local court. Again I say this because this office is more than just a political berth on a journey through public life.

Licensing my bone of contention about this function of a Town Hall is that it costs tax payers money to deal with licensing matters. In some councils I believe there are some fees that are outstanding. However more concerning for me is it is estimated that Town Halls are left with a gap between what they receive in fees and what it costs to deal with licensing application matters of somewhere in the region of £100 million pounds a year. Surely the cost of licencing applications has to be addressed at some point by the government as it cannot continue to allow business that are making profits be subsidised at the expense of the council tax payer?

• There are nearly 150,000 job losses already announced or in the pipeline in 153 public bodies according to the GMB’s round up published this morning in advance of the TUC Congress in Manchester
• The Government has announced plans to cut NHS Direct
• The Local Government Association has warned that frontline services face a shortfall of £12.5 bn in 2013/4, rising to £20 bn by 2014/5. The gap will be created by rising demand for services, combined with cuts in government grants
• Contact a Family, the charity for families with disabled children, has raised concerns that the 2011 changes to Housing Benefit will hit disabled children especially hard.
• A survey by Every Disabled Child Matters reveals that local authorities are already cutting services for disabled children and their parents including short breaks, play and leisure, education, transport, health, training and equipment
• The Police Superintendents’ Association has warned the government that there will be “consequences” for public order if the police are not exempted from the cuts
• The Department for Education’s own assessment of the equality impact of the decision to stop the Building Schools for the Future programme confirms that this decision will have a disproportionate impact on the poorest children
• Health Minister Simon Burns has announced that the government will not go ahead with the previous government’s plans to make car parking free in English NHS hospitals.
• The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has highlighted that the pub it is based on is closing down – and that cuts in funding for the Community Owned Pubs scheme are to blame.
• It has been widely reported that councils are turning off streetlights to save cash.
• Seventy per cent of over-65s think that the elderly will be hardest hit by the cuts, with 69% expecting local authorities to cut funding for personal and nursing care. The results of a survey for care and housing charity Anchor carried out last month by ICM are reported in Putting Older People’s Issues Back on the Agenda
• Welfare to work blogs are starting to report that ‘most’ of the 16,000 temporary  Jobcentre Plus staff, who were recruited to deal with increased demand for services at the start of the recession, will now not have their contracts renewed
• A new study from the Young Foundation has warned that departments and agencies  facing cuts of 15 – 25 per cent are planning cuts of 30 – 50 per cent in funding for civil society groups.
• The total “tax gap” reached £42 billion in 2008/9 – 8.6 per cent of the tax individuals and companies have a legal responsibility to pay. Measuring Tax Gaps 2010, published on Thursday by HMRC looks at the ‘gap’ between the tax that should be collected and the amount that is actually collected. £42 billion is the highest ever in cash terms and the per centage tax gap is the highest since 2005-6, when it was 8.8 per cent
• A TUC report “Where the money goes“ shows that the coalition government’s planned spending cuts are likely to impact much more heavily on the poorest UK households than the richest
• ConDems are paying lip-service to the ‘Big Society’ – while cutting the DWP Volunteering Programme (launched in April 2009) which placed over 13,000 people unemployed for over six months into volunteering opportunities.

Officers elected were Tony Mayer (Chair), Mark Dempsey (Vice-Chair), Rochelle Russell & Michelle d’Agostino (Secretaries), and John Keepin (Treasurer).  Anyone interested in future meetings is invited to contact Rochelle or Michelle.

The review will consider changes to the number of councillors on the council as well as the number and boundaries of the council’s electoral wards.

Max Caller, Chair of the Commission, said:

• “Having fair electoral boundaries is important for local democracy.”
• “The purpose of a review is to try to ensure that each councillor represents around the same number of people and that every elector’s vote is worth the same. That’s not the case at the moment: Abbey Meads ward, for example, has 65% more electors per councillor than the average in Swindon, whereas Penhill ward has 15% fewer.”
• “We’ll also be looking to take into account local community identities. This is your chance to shape your council for the future.”

The first stage of the Commission’s consultation closes on 30th August 2010. During this stage, local people are being invited to comment – specifically – on how many councillors should serve the Swindon area in total.

Once it has considered the evidence provided by local people and organisations, the Commission will then publish its decision on the total number of councillors and invite further views on where new ward boundaries should be drawn. By April 2011, the Commission will publish draft recommendations for new wards across Swindon.

Following further public consultation on its draft recommendations, the Commission is likely to publish its final proposals by Autumn 2011.

Further information on electoral reviews and guidance on what sort of information the Commission is looking for should be available at council offices, in your local library, or the following website at www.lgbce.org.uk