Labour Action: In 2 years we have cleaned up Lyndhurst Crescent, Cranmore Avenue, Buckhurst Fields, and New College.

  Tory Failure: Unlike the Tories, we don’t talk about cleaning up litter, we do it.

  Labour Action: Our Pot Holes campaign led to pot holes being filled and resurfacing of Kingswood Av, Whitbourne Av and Upham Road.

  Tory Failure: Tory cuts to the road repairs budget led to Swindon being labelled Pot Hole City.

Dear Friends,

In Walcot and Park North the choice is between Labour Action and Tory Failure.  We have worked hard to get results on Cavendish Square, Youth Facilities, road repairs, and litter.

Labour Action

• Cavendish Square resurfaced
• New Youth Club for Parks
• £52,000 of new investment for local facilities
• Roads resurfaced and Pot Holes fixed
• Regular Clean Up days organised to pick up litter in our ward

In Swindon the Tories have failed – failed to deliver regeneration, failed to deliver jobs and wasted money while they have racked up £80m debt.

That’s why it is time for change and to build a better future for Swindon.

Best wishes
Cllr Mark Dempsey, Cllr Steve Allsopp & Abdul Amin

 Labour Action: Through partnership with the local community, we secured £52,000 investment for projects in Parks and Walcot.

  We have opened new Youth Club serving Parks.

 We have also allocated money to create new children’s football pitches on Buckhurst Fields.

  Tory Failure: Tory Council ‘lost’ the money that was allocated to Parks and Walcot. Tory Councillors for Walcot could not agree on how to spend the money and so investment went unspent for a year.

Labours team for Walcot & Park North are Steve ALSOPP, Abdul AMIN and Mark Dempsey

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The Tories budget last week said and delivered nothing for those people that want hope for a better future for this town.  There were no actions to tackle youth unemployment, no strategy for growth, and no measures to create the new jobs and businesses this town needs.

Just as businesses in Swindon have declared – the Tories strategy is not for low growth; but no growth.  Under Labour in the 1980s Swindon became a powerhouse for inward investment attracting Honda, BMW and Nationwide. We were the zero unemployment town.  Under the Tories youth unemployment stands at the second highest in the South West region.

The Tories economic strategy is hurting but not working.   Families, pensioners and businesses already know the Tories cuts are hurting.  Unemployment has soared to 2.67 million, the highest levels for 16 years.  And youth unemployment is at its highest level since records began.

And with the Tories plunging the Council into £116 million of debt – it’s just not working.   Who is paying the price of the Tories economic failure?  Families with a 150,000 cut to SureStart; the disabled with a £615,000 cut for help for disabled care; and the sick with a £150,000 cut for bus services to Great Western Hospital.

What should the budget have said?.  At the heart of the budget we need a plan for growth and a long term vision for rebuilding our economy.

Nationally we should implement Labour’s 5 point plan for jobs including a new bankers bonus tax to fund 100,000 jobs for young people.  In Swindon we should do the same and cut senior management costs and spend the money on apprenticeships getting young people back to work.

We also need a long term economic strategy.  Swindon Labour’s proposed Green New Deal will ‘get Swindon working’ and build the new businesses, the new jobs and the new economy that our town needs.   We will place Swindon at the heart of the hydrogen highway and at the forefront of creating new green collar jobs.

We will also establish a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.   To help Swindon’s successful businesses to grow and expand, we will establish mini enterprise zones to attract supply chain businesses of Swindon’s major manufacturers.

To increase local opportunity for education and skills, we will build a long term plan for a University for Swindon.  Finally we will create a new Masterplan for the regeneration of Swindon Town Centre.

Instead of these cuts, we need to build a plan for the economic future of Swindon.  With a strong economic strategy Swindon can once again become an economic powerhouse for jobs and prosperity.

Youth unemployment is now one of the greatest challenges facing the country. Youth unemployment is the highest since records began.  Nearly 1½ million young people are currently not in education, employment or training –   over 1 in 5 of all young people.

Swindon has been particularly hard hit – identified as a youth unemployment hot spot by the recent report by the Association of Chief executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO).  The percentage of young people (18-24) out of work in Swindon has more than trebled from 2.5% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2011.

There is a real danger we create a lost generation.  We know how corrosive and damaging unemployment is to local communities, and how demoralising the search for work can be.

For young people, long-term unemployment scars for life. It means lower earnings, more unemployment, and more ill health later in life. It means more inequality between rich and poor.

It also affects young people’s mental and physical health. It increases susceptibility to illness, mental stress, and helplessness, and loss of self-esteem leading to depression.

Youth unemployment means that those people affected are more likely to be unemployed and welfare-dependent later in life and it creates a long term divide in aspiration passed down the generations.  According to the Princes Trust 25% of those from deprived homes believe that ‘few’ or ‘none’ of their career goals are achievable.

Studies have found that increases in youth unemployment relate to increases in burglaries, thefts and drug offences.  Overall it is it is urgent that we take action to tackle youth unemployment.

Unfortunately at a time when we need to create new jobs and open the door for opportunity, many of the key support mechanisms have been dismantled.

•          The Future Jobs Fund, cut

•          The Connexions Service, Cut

•          EMA’s cut

•          And Tuition Fees Trebled

The ACVO report recommends 3 key strategies to tackle youth unemployment:

1. Young people need more job opportunities:

It calls for a Youth Contract Work Programme and for young people to be guaranteed a part-time ‘First Step’ job as a stepping stone to unsupported employment.

2. Young people need better preparation and motivation for work

The raising of the education participation age from 16 to 18 is a massive moment for the country.  They also call for the creation of national Job Ready programme for those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed.

3. The creation of Youth Employment Zones

Starting in the youth unemployment ‘hotspots’ across Britain, the key organisations responsible for tacking youth unemployment should come together and coordinate their efforts.  It must become everybody’s business to get young people into work.

Tackling Youth Unemployment is one of political challenges of our times.  It is a challenge we must face together.  It is essential that we develop a clear strategy for Swindon and make a real positive difference to the future of young people across our town.

It was a surprise to get a call this week inviting me as a guest on the BBC Sunday Politics Show.  It was first real experience of TV and the recording seemed to pass by in a flash.  The show focussed on two key issues – restorative justice and regenerating deprived neighbourhoods.  I was joined on the panel by South Swindon MP Robert Buckland; and so I also took the chance of pressing him on youth unemployment and the lack of a strategy for rebuilding the economy.

Swindon has been chosen to pilot restorative justice.  It has been used by the Youth Offending Team for 12 years but is now being extended to adults.  Restorative justice connects the criminal with the consequences of their actions; and shows the victim that justice is being served.  Restorative Justice holds offenders to account for what they have done, and helps victims to get on with their lives.  In other parts of the country restorative justice schemes have seen a 50% reduction in the reoffending rate of young offenders.  According to Cambridge University every £1 spent on restorative justice saves £9 in criminal justice system.

Under Labour crime came down.  However under the Tories personal crime has gone up by a shocking 11 per cent. This is the biggest annual increase in personal crime for over a decade.  In Wiltshire, nearly 6 per cent of front line police officers have been cut and there has been a 5% rise in burglaries. In Gloucestershire the Chief Constable said he feared budget cuts mean they are about to go over a “cliff edge” in police services in the County. Labour introduced Neighbourhood Policing Teams and we increased police numbers by 17,000 and created 16,000 new PCSOs.  However HMIC estimate that over 16,000 police officers will be lost by 2015 as a result of the Tories 20 per cent cuts – 8,000 police officers have already been lost since the election.  Tories plans are to cut police numbers rather than cut crime.

Regeneration of our towns and communities is vitally important.  The successful regeneration of Cabots Circus, Gloucester Docks, Bath Southgate and Plymouth are inspirational – and are hugely important in rebuilding the economy and restoring community.  However after a decade or urban transformation, regeneration is stalled. The RDA’s have been abolished and programmes such as the Pathfinder programme have been cut.  In Swindon 8 years of Tory control have failed to deliver regeneration: the town is blighted by waste land, derelict buildings and eyesores.  Regeneration has turned into degeneration.

People want action on regeneration – and that’s what we have delivered in my ward in Swindon.  Cavendish Square had been abandoned with half left as a derelict building site.  After a failed Tory regeneration project, locals likened it to a bombsite.  However I worked in partnership with the community and after numerous meetings the Square has been resurfaced.  It has been a long wait but we think that the resurfacing has made a huge difference to the look of the Square; and shows that we can make a difference to our communities.

The latest unemployment figures are deeply worrying.  UK unemployment rose by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December.   Youth unemployment is the highest since records began.  There is a real danger we create a lost generation. We need a plan for growth and a long term vision for rebuilding our economy.

The Conservative- austerity plan is hurting, but not working.  They should be taxing the bankers’ bonuses and using the money to help young people back to work.  However we also need a long term plan for rebuilding the economy.  The root cause of the current economic crisis is the overreliance of our economy on the banks.  We need a plan for rebuilding our manufacturing base and growing the green economy.   Employment in the environmental sector has been growing at 7% since the year 2000, whilst the wind energy sector has seen a 91% leap in employment over the last three years, and now employs more people than the coal industry.    This is a long term vision to rebuild our economy and create the new businesses and new jobs of the future.

My overall conclusion from the experience is how after the Tories in Swindon have nothing to offer on the key issues of the economy and jobs.  The Tories have left a legacy of failure, debt and waste.  They have failed to deliver regeneration, there is no economic plan for growth and they have racked up debts of £80m.  Labour has a clear vision for the future of the town – to create the new jobs and businesses of the future; to kick start regeneration and to create a new masterplan to shape the future of the town; and to tackle youth unemployment.  Labour has the clear plan to take Swindon forwards and is ready to take power if we win the local elections in May.

You can watch the whole programme on iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01c156q/Sunday_Politics_West_19_02_2012/

You only need to take a trip to the Town Centre to see that Swindon is in urgent need of regeneration. The Tory Council has failed to regenerate the Town Centre.  They have had 8 years in power in Swindon and yet our Town Centre is still scarred by wasteland, derelict buildings, and eyesores.  The old College site with its broken windows is the most visual reminder of the Tory failure on regeneration. Promised regeneration projects have failed to be delivered. 

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These are serious economic times for Swindon. The percentage of young people (18-24) out of work in Swindon has more than trebled since the Tories gained control of Swindon Council from 2.5% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2011.  Since January there has been a 77 per cent rise in young people on the dole for more than six months in Swindon. Unemployment is now 2.6 million – and youth unemployment has risen above 1 million  Businesses are struggling, families are finding times are hard, and people are worried about their jobs.

Unfortunately it appears that nationally and here in Swindon the Conservatives have no clear strategy to get our economy growing again. The Future Jobs Fund, EMA’s and the Connexions Service have been cut and tuition Fees trebled.  And In Swindon we see the same story.  The Core Strategy was widely criticised for lacking an economic vision for the Town.  A recent business leader said:  “What if another Honda or Intel decided to move to Swindon? They would look at this strategy, decide the town is closed for business and go somewhere else. In some ways the council isn’t just adopting a low growth’ strategy, it’s no growth”.  It is alarming to learn that the Tories have no in house team to market Swindon or promote inward investment, and have failed to build on the legacy of Honda, BMW and Motorola to attract new businesses to our town.Under the Tories there is no plan, there’s no strategy, there’s no vision.

Business leaders, workers and families are saying the same as us.  This town needs a plan for growth.   This is why we have launched our own economic strategy.  Our Green New Deal will ‘get Swindon working’ and build the new businesses, the new jobs and the new economy that our town needs. We will place Swindon at the heart of the hydrogen highway and at the forefront of creating new green collar jobs. Employment in the environmental sector has been growing at seven per cent since the year 2000. The European Union has already committed to three million green collar jobs by 2020.   We should seize the opportunities that will arrive as a result of the need to tackle climate change and become a centre for renewable energy, energy efficiency; and low carbon industries.  Just as Roosevelt did in the 1930s we should pledge ourselves to a new deal – a Green New Deal.

In the 1980’s the inward investment from Honda, BMW, Motorola and Nationwide among others made Swindon into a powerhouse of economic growth and zero unemployment. Using the 1980’s model – we will establish a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.  We will establish a dedicated planning officer to provide a key point of contact for developers and businesses wishing to relocate to Swindon.  This will create the opportunity for a new economic transformation of the town.

We are proud of Swindon successful businesses.  We will work in partnership with Swindon’s Successful Businesses to help them grow and encourage their expansion.  As a first step we will establish mini enterprise zones by reorganising the Council’s land holdings to attract supply chain businesses of Swindon’s major manufacturers.  And using the extra funds from the localization of business rates we will help small businesses by creating a Small Business Loans Scheme.

Alongside new jobs we need to increase local opportunity for education and skills.  We will build a long term plan for a University for Swindon to unlock the talents of local people and to drive economic regeneration.

And we will support the bid for a University Technical College to extend skills and training provision in Swindon .  A University for Swindon would transform people’s lives, and transform the future of our town.

Finally we will create a new master plan for the regeneration of Swindon Town Centre.  The Tories have failed to regenerate Swindon.  Our Town Centre is still scarred by wasteland, derelict buildings, and concrete eyesores.

The masterplan is the key measure that the experts say will provide prospective developers with clear guidance and certainty to invest. We will end degeneration and kick start regeneration.

With a strong economic strategy Swindon can once again become an economic powerhouse for jobs and prosperity

This is Labour’s Economic Plan:

>> Grow the green economy: by placing Swindon at the heart of the hydrogen highway and creating new green collar jobs

>> Get Swindon Working: by enable the creation of 1000 new jobs, boosting apprenticeships and launching a Getting Swindon Working programme

>> New Jobs through New Inward Investment by establishing a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.

>> Retaining and Growing Swindon’s Successful Businesses by working in partnership with existing large employers encourage their expansion and using the Council’s land assets to create mini enterprise zones to encourage their suppliers to locate in Swindon.

>> A Clear Plan for the Regeneration of Swindon: to deliver a Town Centre which is attractive for shopping, leisure and culture reflecting the railway history of Swindon.

>> Help for Small Businesses: by using extra funds from the localization of business rates to help small businesses.

>> Towards a University for Swindon; by bidding for a University Technical College and establishing a specialist University project team to drive forward a long term plan for a University.

>> A kick start for the construction sector by a first time buyers scheme, by growing Swindon by 1000 houses a year and securing 40% as affordable homes.

>> A Fair Deal for Swindon by supporting a Living Wage.

Economy and Jobs VnNovember