Last week I met with Caroline Flint – the Labour Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government.  I had a lot to complain about with the 8.9% cut this year in Council services, but also took the opportunity to tell her about the attacks which the Tory-led Government are making on the front-line Fireservice.

I hope you’ll be getting my February newsletter soon (my January newsletter is available here as a PDF).  In the second leaflet I want to discuss some of the Tory broken promises, and give my priorities for the St Philips Ward:

• Fight for an increased budget for road resurfacing & road repairs in the Stratton area. The Tory lead council are keen to spend money on the Internet highway with WIFI but are allowing our roads to fall into a dangerous condition
• Protect services for the elderly and vulnerable. I feel we should protect our elderly and vulnerable  who are paying for the Banks mistakes and the international recession.
• Introduce a “Community Payback” scheme –  where local residents have a say in the punishment of anti social behaviour offenders.
• Ensure that all street lighting in residential areas remain switched on at least until midnight. This is needed to protect and make we that live in this area feel safe at night.

Please get in touch with me on j.tray@ntlworld.com

Joe Tray, Labour Candidate, St Philip Ward

PARKS LABOUR COUNCILLORS, have called for the urgent repair of the pot holes in Parks, and have launched a survey to ensure all Parks Pot Holes are repaired.

Cllr Mark Dempsey said: ‘The acute winter weather has severely damaged Swindon’s roads so much so that it is becoming known as “Pothole city”.  Roads in Parks have been particularly affected including Kingswood Avenue, Whitbourne Avenue and Cranmore Avenue. On Kingswood Avenue, there are 20 pot holes in 20 metres of road.

‘Unfortunately the Tory council has slashed the money on road repairs by £500,000 over the past 5 years.  Our residents are suffering with untold damage to people’s vehicles.  Many of the roads in Parks are so bad that they really need to be completely resurfaced.’

‘We are asking residents to join our call for Swindon Borough Council to repair the Parks pot holes.  Residents can sign our petition electronically at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ParksPH/petition.html.  We will be taking the petition out across Parks and we are also asking residents to compete a survey so that we can tell Swindon Council which road need to be repaired”.

We would also like residents to send us their photos of the worst Pot Holes in Parks so that we can send Swindon Borough Council a dossier of the Parks potholes.  They can send their photos to mark@markdempsey.org.uk‘

Mark Dempsey, Cllr Parks