The Swindon Labour Party launched their Local Election Campaign on Monday (2nd of April), with the Swindon Labour Group Leader, Jim Grant, leading the Campaign Launch. The Labour Party stood for delivering better value for money to Swindon’s Council-taxpayers.

The launch of Swindon Labour Party’s Local Election Campaign was in front of the Town Centre Water Fountain as it is “symptomatic of the wasteful spending of this Conservative administration”.

The Swindon Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, said:

“Labour’s central pledge in these local elections is stop the debt, waste and failure presided over by this local Conservative administration.

Since the Conservatives took control of Swindon Council, they have racked up a Council debt of over £100m, despite being left with a budget surplus by the previous Labour administration. They have wasted millions of pounds of Council-taxpayers’ money on the Town Centre Water Fountain and the Whalebridge Roundabout. And they have let down the people of Swindon with the failed Wi-Fi project, which cost nearly £500K.

Labour will be offering a clear alternative in the forthcoming elections. Labour’s main campaign priority is to deliver a value for money council. This means taking tough decisions to address the council’s bulging debts, keeping council taxes as low as possible and improving council services, in the face of inevitable budget cuts. As well as this, we will also be seeking to restore trust in the council from Swindon’s communities, we will seek to retain and attract new jobs to Swindon and we will not let down our town’s vulnerable people- like the elderly and the disabled.

These are the priorities that local residents have expressed they want from their council and this is what Labour will deliver if elected in the Council Elections.”

Green Open Spaces are one of the most important features of local communities and are vital to ensuring a high quality of life for local people. In Swindon’s urban areas there are far fewer green open spaces than in rural areas and that is why Labour recognises that the green open spaces that residents use and want need to be protected from development.

Unfortunately the principle of protecting designated green open spaces in Swindon’s urban areas, which I thought had cross-party support, was undermined recently. I’m referring to the Conservative administration’s decision to sell green open space at Pickards Field to a housing developer.

What concerns me most about this sell-off is the precedent it sets for future possible developments on green open spaces. That is why Labour put forward a motion at the last Council Meeting which called for the opposition in principle to development on designated green open spaces. The Conservatives weren’t prepared to support our motion and attached caveats to their support of protecting green open spaces. With the Conservatives not prepared to support Labour’s motion and with them currently being able to block vote all council issues, I took the decision to withdraw my motion and leave the people of Swindon to decide who they trust to protect their green open spaces- in the Council Election on May the 3rd.

Should you elect Labour to run your council we will do two things to protect your green open spaces. Firstly we will reaffirm the Council’s Local Plan, which technically expired in 2011, as the council’s central planning policy document until a successor planning policy document is agreed. This will leave communities and developers in no doubt what green open spaces are protected from development.

Secondly, we will work with all of Swindon’s communities to establish Community Plans which designates the green open spaces that will be protected from development and which can be developed on. These plans will be legally enforceable.

Labour agrees that more homes need to be built in Swindon. However they need to be built in the right areas not on treasured green open spaces.

Cllr Jim Grant
Swindon Labour Group Leader

Please sign our petition to object development on green spaces in Swindon: http://petition.swindon-labour.co.uk

What this information reveals is that while the Wi-Fi project and the £400K council-taxpayers loan were agreed, along with the subsequent public scrutiny of the project, Rikki Hunt was being paid by Swindon Borough Council.

This information came not from an admittance of this administration; but instead was forced from this administration through a direct public question from Chris Watts, the Labour Party Candidate for Eastcott in the forthcoming elections.

There are many, many questions that spring up as a result of this information.

• Was Councillor Bluh or any of his cabinet colleagues aware of Rikki Hunt’s payments from the Council? And how long have they been aware?
• Do they agree with these payments to Rikki Hunt?
• Did Rikki Hunt win this training contract through open tender, or was he automatically awarded this contract worth £82K?
• And, most importantly, why did nobody in his administration see fit to mention this important information during the extensive scrutiny of the Wi-Fi scheme?

Answers in the public domain to these questions are absolutely essential. The integrity of the administration, of which he leads, is on the line.

On the following pages you’ll find the Labour candidates who stood for each ward in Swindon on 3rd May.  Click above or in the “Manifesto” box, for the highlights of Labour’s policies …

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Labour candidates Des Moffatt, Jim Grant and Peter Watt point to the cuts in school budgets in the ward, Tory waste and Labour’s alternative plans for protecting  public services, green space and relieving traffic congestion. Continue Reading

In the Council Elections on May the 3rd, Swindon residents will have a big decision to make about who they want to run their local Council.

The Conservatives, led by Councillor Bluh, have said that if they retain control of the Council they will provide the same approach to running the council as they have done over the last 9 years. They will continue to spend your council-taxes on what they want it to be spent on, rather than what you want it spent on- like the failed Wi-Fi project which cost £400K. They will continue failing to consult you on major decisions facing your community before they’re decided- as they did with Croft, Tadpole Farm and Pickards Field. And they will continue to make promise after promise on town centre regeneration, while still delivering no significant improvements.

While Labour, under my leadership, are offering you an opportunity to have real change. If Labour take administration of the Council our approach will be based on four priorities.

• Delivering Value For Money for Swindon’s Council-taxpayers.
  This means taking tough decisions to address the Council’s £100m+ debt, keeping council-taxes as low as possible and improving council services, in the face of inevitable budget cuts.
• Protecting the vulnerable & supporting our young people.
  This means ensuring there are good local schools available for local people and ensuring that the care the council provides to its elderly and disabled people isn’t reduced because of budget cuts.
• Retaining and Attracting Jobs.
  This means prioritising local council jobs rather than expensive consultants and working with Swindon’s major employers to attract their suppliers to Swindon.
• And Restoring Trust in the Community.
  This means ensuring the Council is open and accountable for all it does and fully consulting residents before decisions that affect them are taken, not after.

If you elect Labour as the majority party on the council, my pledge to you will be that all our policies will be based on these priorities, starting from day one.

This is the type of Labour Council I am seeking to lead.  A Council working hard for our residents to ensure that any problems they have are addressed and delivering on our election priorities to drive value for money, protect the vulnerable, retain and attract jobs and restore trust in the community.

Cllr Jim Grant

Swindon Labour Group Leader

On the 23^rd of February Swindon’s Councillors will be setting a budget for the forthcoming financial year. The Conservative administration has proposed a budget based on their priorities last week.

There is some common ground on this budget. Recognising the tough times for many of Swindon’s families, Labour welcomes the use of government funding to freeze residents’ council-taxes next year. Labour also welcomes the Conservative administration’s decision to reverse their previous policy to switch off many of Swindon’s streetlights- something Labour had campaigned for. And we welcome the fact that the Conservative administration listened to residents’ and Labour’s concerns and will now provide funding for a bus service to Penhil & Coleview- albeit an off-perk service for only one year.

However with the Conservative-led government cutting its funding to Swindon Borough Council, it is hugely important that the Council ensures that all of its income is spent on essential and frontline projects, while doing its best not to lose Council jobs.

That is why it is unforgivable that the Conservative administration has increased the Council’s consultancy budget to £1.3m during recent times. And it is unforgivable that £11m of next year’s budget will be allocated to debt charges, to pay off the administration’s £116m debt- an increase of £36m in the previous year.

Meanwhile, this administration is embarking on one off the biggest cuts to frontline services in Swindon’s history, on top of the cuts it has already made since May 2010. This will mean that £150K will be cut next year on bus services to the Great Western Hospital, £154K is being cut from Swindon’s Children Centres and £250K is being cut from Supporting People projects that help poor young families, people suffering from mental health illnesses and homeless people.

So the proposals put forward by the Conservative administration will mean that £12.3m of your money will be spent next year on unnecessary consultants and to the Council’s creditors to pay off part off the Tories debt. Meanwhile services to our town’s elderly, to our poor and to our young people will be stripped back. And this will cost 120 Council jobs for Swindon people in the process.

If elected in May, a Labour administration would have a different set of priorities. We would start by cutting £2m in senior management and consultant costs and by establishing a clear plan to reduce the Tories £116m debt. And these savings would then be reinvested in to services provided for the elderly (like protecting bus services), young people (through protecting Sure Start) and the poor (through protecting Supporting People projects).

Cllr Jim Grant

Swindon Labour Group Leader

Last week the Swindon Advertiser covered a public meeting where an estimated 150 Old Town residents attended an open meeting to discuss how to fight Swindon’s Conservative Councillors against their decision to propose a school on the Croft site and the granting of planning permission for the school to be sited at Croft.

I  have no doubt that the Conservatives will see those who attended this meeting as merely nimbys and self-interested. After speaking to some of those residents who attended this meeting, I hold a very different view and believe the large turnout highlights a recurring theme of the actions and decisions Swindon’s Conservative administration has taken.

• We saw it with the way this Conservative administration dismissed residents’ concerns over the administration’s Wi-Fi decision
• We saw it with the Whalebridge changes where the Conservative administration decided to make a massive change to the town’s road network without consulting one member of the public or ward councillor
• And we saw it with the allocation of the Haydon 3 S106 money, where Haydon Wick and Abbey Meads’ residents were bypassed in order for the Conservative administration to divert 83% of the £15m pot to other areas of Swindon

Swindon’s Conservative administration is neither listening to, nor working with the people of our town.  While providing warm words about engaging with local communities and residents, the Tories’ actions speak louder than their words and over the last 9 years of them being in administration, their actions have irreversibly alienated many of Swindon’s communities and residents.

The local Labour Party have recognised this and we believe we have a package of policies that will begin to recover local communities’ and residents’ trust in Swindon Borough Council, after nearly a decade of neglect. These policies would include:

•  Seeking to devolve more powers and services down to a lower tier of local government- parish and community councils.
• And we would get the Council to agree a set of rights that each resident in this town will have when interacting with their council. These rights should be proposed by an independent local resident after they hold an Independent Review where they consult with local residents about what they want from their council.

Should Labour take control of Swindon Council and I become Leader of the Council, gone will be the days where members of the public are targets of scorn from senior Conservative Councillors; gone will be the days where there are proposals to restrict the powers of parish councils and gone will be the days where decisions that affect all residents of the borough are nodded through without any public consultation.

The Labour Group Leader, Councillor Jim Grant, has called for a halt to the Croft Development until local residents’ concerns about the process of the school being granted have been heard.

The Labour Group Leader has also written to the Leader of the Council, Councillor Rod Bluh, requesting that he join him in meeting leaders of the Croft Community who have expressed their concerns about the proposed new Old Town School.

I am calling for a temporary halt to the development of the Croft School, based on the evidence the Croft residents have provided to me. The reason I am doing this is because the Croft residents have shown me evidence that undermines the robustness of the information that has been provided to justify the school being on the Croft site.

As well as this, I think local residents’ have been isolated from the Croft School process because they were legitimately concerned about a new school being on that site and that has meant the Croft community now feel completely alienated from Swindon Borough Council. This cannot be right and undermines one of the Council’s strategic aims- to better engage with its local communities.

If I have been given the correct information then reconsideration of the Croft School and a temporary halt to development is the minimum that is required. Following this I think the Leader of the Council and I need to meet with the leaders of the Croft community to listen and review their case.

Below is a letter to Councillor Bluh to ask him to join me in doing this. Anything other than him doing this will be a kick in the teeth for the Croft and wider Old Town community.

Cllr Jim Grant, Swindon Labour Group Leader

Labour Leader’s Letter to the Leader of the Swindon Council

 Dear Rod

I write to you as a matter of serious urgency regarding the proposed new primary school at Croft. Whilst we are political opponents I believe we have some things in common and this includes wanting good trusting relationships with Swindon’s communities.  Recently there has been a break down in trust with the Croft Community over theCroftSchoolproposal.

Originally I thought this was about the proposed school at Croft and the subsequent planning decision, however it is much deeper than that and I believe it undermines the ‘Stronger Together’ principles.

I recently met some of the Croft Community and the information they relayed causes me great concern. They feel an injustice has been done on the back of what they feel is incorrect and incomplete information that has been supplied to council members to make decisions.  Based on what they have told me it may contribute to an unsafe decision and I would be happy to talk to you about this in person.

Since the Planning Committee Meeting they have also been told that information presented to the committee can’t be challenged. In other words, there is no recourse for local residents’ on planning decisions. I am not comfortable with this and the residents have judged the Council by its acts and to them the Council has used all the resources at its disposal to ensure the building of a school at Croft, without thinking about alternative arrangements.

That is why I am callin g on you to temporarily halt the building of the proposed primary school at Croft. During this time I propose that me and you, as the town’s main political group leaders, meet with the leaders of the Croft community and review their case. This should not be a long process as all the information regarding this is in the public domain and this could have significant implications in signalling toSwindon’s communities that their council will hear them out.

I look forward to a prompt response from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Cllr Jim Grant

Swindon Labour Group Leader

Swindon Borough Council has been accused by Swindon’s Labour Group Leader of letting down the town’s young children after proposing more than £150,000 worth of cuts to Swindon’s children’s centres. These cuts were part of the administration’s budget proposals back in November and will be on top of the £50K cut from Swindon’s Sure Start this year.

The Conservative administration’s proposals include making cuts of more than £40,000 to the Robert Le Kyng and the Penhill/Pinehurst Children’s Centres and cuts of more than £8.500 to Children’s centres in places like Freshbrook, Dorcan, Stratton and Drove Road.

These Tories proposed cuts to Swindon’s children centres will be a huge worry to families in places like Freshbrook, Dorcan, Eastcott and Penhill, whose children’s centres are receiving cuts.

SureStart is a universal service for our town’s young families and any cuts to this service are depriving families of this essential support they deserve.

Unlike Labour, who have created and defended the many excellent children’s centres across our town, the Tories do not prioritise young people.

As Labour councillors and representatives of this town, we will stand up for our children and fight this lack of investment in their future. It is a shame that the Tories both locally and nationally are not doing the same.

Tories Proposed Sure Start Cuts in 2012/13