When eventually the dust settles on the Wi-fiasco the simple lesson we may learn is ‘do not make decisions in isolation’. We learnt at the Scrutiny meeting April 8th that Rod Bluh did not take the Wi-fi project to Cabinet because he could not trust his cabinet colleagues.

These are the people he hand picked and appointed to look after your interests. What message does that send? He was concerned that Cabinet Members may leak details to others. Leaks are usually the escape route for concerns that individuals are afraid to address formally. Although in this case some of the Wi-fi leaks were the result of Tory infighting.

Whilst Rod used semantics to refute the point I made about his lack of trust in his Cabinet this probably was the reason for the mess that followed. Very few would say the Cabinet System is perfect however it can stop foolish decision making and dictatorial behaviour. Wise minds helped to develop the Cabinet System to speed up decision making and to prevent the abuse of public trust. To avoid the Cabinet System is a mistake, ‘poor decisions get exposed’.

Connecting People Connecting Places has an objective of listening to public concerns and addressing these concerns. This episode has re-enforced my view that the public can detect when something is wrong and public diligence has shown that the scrutiny process can be used to expose failures of good governance. However it has been hard work to overcome the tide of political interest. Some public questions were only answered after decisions had been made. Follow up questions were not possible because people were not armed with the relevant information. Thank god for ‘Talkswindon’ keeping the public informed. This failure to answer questions prior decision making is something I will follow up with the Borough Solicitor.

My dissatisfaction with the Wi-fi decision making process is well known. What has disappointed me is that many of the Tory back bench members who have previously demonstrated they are capable of doing the right thing did not stand up and do the right thing on Wi-fi. They have lacked the courage to do the right thing and only one councillor from the opposition saw that the way the decision was made was the core problem. It is ‘black box’ politics; present a decision that has to be accepted without involvement or demonstration of value. This type of decision making is designed to disenfranchise democracy. It is the types of decision making that creates suspicion of motive and whilst Rod was concerned about people doubting his integrity he failed to recognise he was the architect of the challenge. It is clear to many but not the Tories that you can not just go ahead and make ‘deals’ on your own or just with an inner circle.

The Swindon Advertiser has reported that Rod has made an agreement with the Labour Group leader, Derique Montaut, to refer the Wi-fiasco to external enquiry. The referral to an external auditor was already in place, before Rod sought to make an agreement with the Derique, however the change in approach is welcome. I suspect this was a way of limiting further damage to the Tories. However I can not stand by and allow assertions regarding officer time, damaging publicity, costs to the tax payer etc to go unchallenged. THESE ARE ALL THE RESULT OF POOR DECISION MAKING AND THE AVOIDANCE OF THE CABINET SYSTEM.

Even now Tories have sought to displace responsibility for their actions. Those present at Scrutiny on April 19th saw the attempt to shift the responsibility for incurred of costs to the delays caused by democratic challenge. Members of the public present must have been dismayed by the lack of responsibility shown by the decision makers. As I stated at the meeting the External Auditor will state whether the Wi-fiasco was the result of poor paper work administration or some other reason. Even without the result of the investigation I hope this will be last we see of ‘Black Box’ politics. I know now many will be on their guard to stop the by-passing of democratic process.

Cllr Bob Wright, Central

The Leader of the Council, Roderick Bluh stated that the MP Ann Snelgrove had made misleading comment in the adjournment debate in the House of Commons.

What she did say is on public record and my own knowledge led me to believe she had not misled Parliament.  The only area where I had no direct knowledge was the statement that aQovia was an IoM registered company.

A family friend researched aQovia at his own expense and found there are three companies registered, one in the UK and two in the Isle of Man.

On re-looking at the briefing note supplied Scrutiny Councillors on December 14th 2009 it clearly states that the shares in Digital City are 40% owned by aQovia (UK).

My friend had previously downloaded the registration document of Digital City from Companies House (he has since checked and it remains unchanged) and it clearly states that the share ownership is 4 shares of a total of 9 owned by aQovia Ltd and has an Isle of Man address.

The details of the ownership of aQovia that are available would appear to suggest that it is an off-shore holding company and that the published secretary is an enabling person only. It is noted that the stated project manager for aQovia a one is Muhammad Ifran Malik who holds 10% of the shares and the secretary is Sarah Kilduff of the IoM address holding 90% of the shares. On searching for Sara Kilduff on the web, we can only find adverts for secretarial services for hire by her.

My thanks to Chris Watts in helping me download for my own assurance the share allocation of Digital City yesterday which remains unchanged. The ‘family friend’ is well known to Talkswindon and it is for him to fess up that he knows me.

The Scrutiny decision, exact wording will come later.  Cllr Tomlinson junior proposed that a decision of Scrutiny be deferred until members were satisfied regarding who was a director of what.
Cllr Tomlinson senior, amended that officers give assurances required and the cabinet decision be supported.  Cllr Moffatt (me Labour) was not content and demanded, that there also had to be clarity that due diligence was being done now as it clearly had not been done and that we needed to be satisfied on the provenance of any investments by a third party and that there was compliance with British law. No-one contested those remarks and the vote was taken.  Cllr Tomlinson senior amendment was lost 5 votes to 4. Cllr Tomlinson junior substantive motion put and carried 6 votes to 3.

In conclusion I believe that Scrutiny did its job properly last evening.

Des Moffatt.  For views of the original documents, contact me on 07709066707

If any cynicism exists surrounding the unusual loaning of public money to the Wi-fi project the Conservative Administration should not be surprised.  At Thursday April 31st Cabinet Meeting the Conservative Chairman Rod Bluh admitted the Wi-fi project was a Political decision.  Also in spite of having months to invite the local Labour MPs to the Wi-fi launch the Conservatives pushed forward the Shadow Minister Caroline Spellman.  The excuse given for this blatant political behaviour was that Ministers had been visiting Swindon?  In other words block out the Party behind ‘broadband access for all’, Labour, and let’s have a publicity stunt for the Conservatives.

If anyone wonders why the Conservatives are in a mess over Wi-fi it’s because they sought Political advantage rather than Constitutional transparency. Embarrassingly whilst Anne Snelgrove has been trying to get transparency a member of the public pointed out the Conservative’s own Parliamentary Candidate for Swindon South is also critical of the Council’s Tories behaviour. The candidate described the ‘deal’ as ‘one done in private and it was not brought to the council’s cabinet for discussion or approval’.

Labour has pressed for this ‘deal’ to go to full council as it is a major decision. The Tories behaviour has also been challenged by some Conservative supporters and local businessmen. They want to know why a private ‘deal’ was done with Rikki Hunt. Why hasn’t the same deal been open to other broadband and system providers in the town?

The loan was authorised through a Town Centre regeneration approval note, this is a blatant misuse of authority. The money came from a budget intended for wider community use and not for a single person or project. When I pointed out this was not being used for regeneration work but for new works it was suggested that copper wire was being ripped up (not true) and replaced by wire free. The irony is that the copper wire systems are being ripped up and are being replaced by glass fibre systems.

The cynicism has been partly based on the errors of judgement. One was made at the Cabinet meeting when the Chair, Rod Bluh, stated that Anne Snelgrove had not written to the Council on Wi-fi. Not only had Anne written it was the Chief Executive’s reply dated 28/1/2010 which was one of the sources’s that a Director was being appointed by the Council.

So after the continued dodging of a full council decision, the political connivance, the cover up of the ‘deal’ details, the unanswered questions from the public and council members is it any wonder that cynicism abounds.

As one apologetic Tory stated ‘a decision-making process that was open as possible at all stages of this proposal would have been the best way to deal with things’. Let’s have that open decision making process now, back the Labour Councillors request for a full council decision on Wi-fi.

Bob Wright, Councillor Central Ward

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.