I am delighted to have been selected again by the Labour Party to stand for Parks Ward in the May 2011 local elections. I have been a Councillor for Parks during the past 8 years, and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  I believe in working for residents and am always keen to hear ways in which our community can be improved.

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A message from Rochelle Russell:

In the face of a strong effort by the Conservative and after a hard fought campaign I was delighted to be elected as a new Labour Councillor. I am truly honoured to be representing Gorse Hill and Pinehurst. I would like to offer my thanks to those who voted for me in the local election,  and indeed to everyone who voted.

I intend to be a hard-working servant of our ward and will represent all of its residents to the best of my ability.

As a full-time councillor it is my aim to make myself as available as possible for ward-work so please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any issues you feel I can help you with, or even just for a chat so that we can get to know each other better.

Over the next year your Labour team will campaign to…

• Complete the regeneration of St Marks Rec with a new sports pavilion & café.  Protect the green open spaces in Gorse Hill and Pinehurst.
• See the start and completion of a new Pinehurst Community Centre complete with Leisure, Health and Dental facilities on site.
• Work with all agencies to tackle Anti-social behaviour Work to stop the sell off of Council Housing.
• Continue working to resolve the issues that you raise with us.

Rochelle Russell: Tel no 01793701910, e-mail russellrochelle15@gmail.com

Ray Ballman:  Tel No 10793 694584, jballman@swindon.gov.uk

John Ballman:  Tel No 10793 694584, jballman@swindon.gov.uk

Gordon Brown today launched Labour’s 5 pledges for the next parliament:

1. Secure the recovery and halve the deficit through economic growth, fair taxes and cuts to lower priority spending
2. Raise family living standards, keeping mortgage rates as low as possible; increasing tax credits for families with young children; providing new help for first-time buyers; and restore the link between the state pension and earnings from 2012.
3. Build a high tech economy, supporting businesses and industry to create 1 million more skilled jobs and modernising our infrastructure with High-Speed Rail, a Green Investment Bank and broadband access for all
4. Protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS, with a new guarantee of cancer test results within a week.
5. Strengthen fairness in communities through an Australian style points-based system to control immigration; guaranteed education, apprenticeships and jobs for young people; and a crack down on anti-social behaviour.

In future weeks I’ll be looking at what these pledges mean to Swindon. Isnt it interesting that they’ve followed the web-design pioneered by Swindon Labour to present our pledges to the electorate of the Borough!

Victor Agarwal, Labour Candidate N Swindon.

See more details on the National Labour Pledges, or view the Youtube version.