The leader of Swindon Council may well have overstepped the mark by getting involved with and more importantly investing your Council Tax resources in the WiFi initiative.  All members of the Labour Group say “Is the Council about emptying the dustbins and supplying public services or an opportunity for elected members to indulge in business gambles?”

As we delve ever deeper into this arrangement, more alarm bells ring.  The decision was taken by a very small group of Cabinet members quite some time ago. If there was/is a business plan it is not available and we understand no external professional advice was sought. The Council has committed up to £450.000 but has not revealed exactly how much money has been spent.  The Council’s own ICT infrastructure has been upgraded to accommodate the additional ICT traffic.  Digital City benefit from free Council accommodation.  The WiFi transmitters fitted to lamp- posts are using the power supply that powers the light. Public communication will share the Council’s data stream routes.

We will keep digging until Councillor Bluh gets the message, Swindon Council’s resources are not his personal plaything.  Contact … for more information.

This may well be a slogan that comes back.  The local paper gave the credit for the change of mind to Tory back bench Councillors but in reality the real anger at the proposal to cut the funding in the wider community did the job.  The pressure on Swindon’s most valuable service to the disabled and others who can not use public transport has been real and continuing for the past four years, ever since the Tories took unfettered control of Swindon’s affairs in fact.  An  element of the European Union anti competition laws has been used as an excuse to remove contracts from Swindon Dial a Ride and Swindon Dial a Ride have been told they will lose further contracts in the near future.

We have investigated and we can find no other Local Authority who has taken this approach.  It is simply bizarre, because Dial a Ride is able to use volunteer drivers they are cheaper than the commercial sector and it is always claimed by Tories, local and national, the third sector, the voluntary sector does things better.  It is not over; you can help, ask the Tory candidates, “What are you up to with Dial a Ride?”