Many people may miss the chance to vote because they don’t have a polling card, either having not received one in the post or having mislaid it but don’t miss your chance to shape Swindon’s future – you can turn up at your polling station in person and vote if you are on the electoral roll.

As long as you are on the electoral roll all you need to do on polling day (May 3^rd 2012) is to turn up at your polling station and give your name and address and you’ll be able to vote.

Finding your polling station:

The council website has details of polling stations that can be downloaded here in PDF format – you can download the free Adobe Reader software at http://get.adobe.com/reader/ if you can’t open the polling stations list.

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

Councillor Jenny Millin died earlier this week. Councillor Millin had been the councillor for the Moredon Ward since November 2010. She won her seat through a by-election.

The Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Jim Grant, said:

“It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Councillor Jenny Millin. Our thoughts are with her family at this very sad time.

Since she came on to the Council back in November 2010, Jenny had been a breath of fresh air, working hard for the people she represented in Moredon and speaking passionately about matters affecting the most vulnerable people in our town . In the space of a year, her hard work was rewarded through having her surname used as a name for a recently built pathway which local residents requested and I appointed her as Labour’s Lead for Health & Social Care.

I can say with confidence that Councillor Millin will be greatly missed by her Councillor colleagues and even more by her constituents, who I know valued the hard work she put in to make the Moredon area a better place.”

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, talked to Swindon Labour Party members in Broadgreen last night following an afternoon meeting with representatives of business and local Councillors.

Rachel emphasised how important Swindon was for the economy – and how much she was looking forward to Labour retaking the Council in May 2012, and the two parliamentary seats in May 2015.   She focused on economic issues – in a week when new figures showed we were on the cusp of another recession, when debt had passed £1trillion, when youth unemployment had passed  26% and had doubled in Swindon in the past year.  Borrowing was a staggering £158 billion more than the Tories had planned.  And why?  Well they blamed it last year on snow and the royal wedding; now they blame it on the Eurozone – but its their own blinkered ideology which places cuts to pensions, to small businesses and to famility policies before creating jobs and creating wealth.   She explained Labour’s 5 point plan for jobs and growth, and how well it had been received by business representatives she’d met in Swindon. Politics was about choices – the Tories had chosen to protect their friends the bankers and preserve their bonuses.  Labour had chosen to target jobs and growth.

Questions focused on the disastrous state of the health service, tax evasion by big business, why the finance sector had been preferred to productive industry, and why bonuses and greed couldn’t be controlled by the Tories or Lib Dems.   The audience were left full of questions about the failure of the current Government and wishing Rachel well in her new and demanding role.

Caption: Rachel Reeves and Jim Grant (Labour Group Leader) (Courtesy of O’Brian Media)

These are serious economic times for Swindon. The percentage of young people (18-24) out of work in Swindon has more than trebled since the Tories gained control of Swindon Council from 2.5% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2011.  Since January there has been a 77 per cent rise in young people on the dole for more than six months in Swindon. Unemployment is now 2.6 million – and youth unemployment has risen above 1 million  Businesses are struggling, families are finding times are hard, and people are worried about their jobs.

Unfortunately it appears that nationally and here in Swindon the Conservatives have no clear strategy to get our economy growing again. The Future Jobs Fund, EMA’s and the Connexions Service have been cut and tuition Fees trebled.  And In Swindon we see the same story.  The Core Strategy was widely criticised for lacking an economic vision for the Town.  A recent business leader said:  “What if another Honda or Intel decided to move to Swindon? They would look at this strategy, decide the town is closed for business and go somewhere else. In some ways the council isn’t just adopting a low growth’ strategy, it’s no growth”.  It is alarming to learn that the Tories have no in house team to market Swindon or promote inward investment, and have failed to build on the legacy of Honda, BMW and Motorola to attract new businesses to our town.Under the Tories there is no plan, there’s no strategy, there’s no vision.

Business leaders, workers and families are saying the same as us.  This town needs a plan for growth.   This is why we have launched our own economic strategy.  Our Green New Deal will ‘get Swindon working’ and build the new businesses, the new jobs and the new economy that our town needs. We will place Swindon at the heart of the hydrogen highway and at the forefront of creating new green collar jobs. Employment in the environmental sector has been growing at seven per cent since the year 2000. The European Union has already committed to three million green collar jobs by 2020.   We should seize the opportunities that will arrive as a result of the need to tackle climate change and become a centre for renewable energy, energy efficiency; and low carbon industries.  Just as Roosevelt did in the 1930s we should pledge ourselves to a new deal – a Green New Deal.

In the 1980’s the inward investment from Honda, BMW, Motorola and Nationwide among others made Swindon into a powerhouse of economic growth and zero unemployment. Using the 1980’s model – we will establish a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.  We will establish a dedicated planning officer to provide a key point of contact for developers and businesses wishing to relocate to Swindon.  This will create the opportunity for a new economic transformation of the town.

We are proud of Swindon successful businesses.  We will work in partnership with Swindon’s Successful Businesses to help them grow and encourage their expansion.  As a first step we will establish mini enterprise zones by reorganising the Council’s land holdings to attract supply chain businesses of Swindon’s major manufacturers.  And using the extra funds from the localization of business rates we will help small businesses by creating a Small Business Loans Scheme.

Alongside new jobs we need to increase local opportunity for education and skills.  We will build a long term plan for a University for Swindon to unlock the talents of local people and to drive economic regeneration.

And we will support the bid for a University Technical College to extend skills and training provision in Swindon .  A University for Swindon would transform people’s lives, and transform the future of our town.

Finally we will create a new master plan for the regeneration of Swindon Town Centre.  The Tories have failed to regenerate Swindon.  Our Town Centre is still scarred by wasteland, derelict buildings, and concrete eyesores.

The masterplan is the key measure that the experts say will provide prospective developers with clear guidance and certainty to invest. We will end degeneration and kick start regeneration.

With a strong economic strategy Swindon can once again become an economic powerhouse for jobs and prosperity

This is Labour’s Economic Plan:

>> Grow the green economy: by placing Swindon at the heart of the hydrogen highway and creating new green collar jobs

>> Get Swindon Working: by enable the creation of 1000 new jobs, boosting apprenticeships and launching a Getting Swindon Working programme

>> New Jobs through New Inward Investment by establishing a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.

>> Retaining and Growing Swindon’s Successful Businesses by working in partnership with existing large employers encourage their expansion and using the Council’s land assets to create mini enterprise zones to encourage their suppliers to locate in Swindon.

>> A Clear Plan for the Regeneration of Swindon: to deliver a Town Centre which is attractive for shopping, leisure and culture reflecting the railway history of Swindon.

>> Help for Small Businesses: by using extra funds from the localization of business rates to help small businesses.

>> Towards a University for Swindon; by bidding for a University Technical College and establishing a specialist University project team to drive forward a long term plan for a University.

>> A kick start for the construction sector by a first time buyers scheme, by growing Swindon by 1000 houses a year and securing 40% as affordable homes.

>> A Fair Deal for Swindon by supporting a Living Wage.

Economy and Jobs VnNovember

The foodbank are still sorting through the incredible harvest they received this year – a record breaking 13 tonnes! More info here  http://www.swindonfoodbank.co.uk

If you are available to give some time on the evening of 29nd November from 7.30pm onwards to help in the Warehouse with other Labour colleagues, we’d love to see you!

If you are coming dress warm as it is a warehouse and if you need glasses for reading (it’s my age!) you may want to bring them along, best before dates are written very small!

Thanks,
Fay

This Wednesday the Swindon Labour Party is holding a public meeting, starting at 7pm at the Haydon Wick Parish Council Offices.

I would like to invite all North Swindon residents to attend this meeting and to share their views on the issues that matter to them.

I have established this meeting along with other Labour Councillors, to talk to the people of North Swindon and to hear their local concerns and see whether we can address any of these local concerns either now or should Labour take control of the Council in the future.

We are particularly interested in the local views on the issue of Section 106 (developers) money, which was generated from the development of the Northern Sector housing.

Some of the questions which arise out of the Section 106 issue include:

• Whether enough money was spent in the local area?

• Is the local infrastructure good enough in North Swindon to be able to redirect money generated in that area to the rest of the town?

• And how we can change the system, if necessary?

Labour wants to hear local residents’ views on these questions as well as any other local issues that have arisen so that we can develop policies which are based on the views of local people.

Councillor Jim Grant

Swindon Labour Group Leader

The Labour Group Leader reacts to the news that Swindon Borough Council has budgeted to spend £11.5m to pay-off the interest payments on its debts in the 2012/13 financial year. This is an increase of £1.5m from the 2011/12 Council budget.

The Council’s existing debt is £80m, however it is expected that this will increase in the 2012/13 financial year, with the Council already committing to borrowing £15m on the Union Square development.

When the Conservative Group took overall control of Swindon Borough Council from Labour in 2004, the Council had a surplus of £6.6m.

While Swindon Borough Council has a debt of £80m, Southampton City Council has a debt of £33m and Bath & North-East Somerset Council has a debt of only £13.9m

I believe it is utterly disgraceful that this Tory administration has racked up debts of £80m after inheriting balanced books from Labour. This has resulted in the Council having to pay £11.5m in interest payments next year. This money could have been given back to Swindon’s Council taxpayers or could have been used to virtually avoid making cuts at all next year.

Under Labour Swindon Council had a surplus of £6.6m
Under the Conservatives Swindon Council now has a debt of £80m
resulting in interest payments of £11.5m, next year

This administration is completely out of control and it is Council-tax payers who are paying the price, paying £11.5m next year just servicing the interest payments on the Council’s debt. And what concerns me more is that with the commitment this administration has made to borrow £15m to build a car park at Union Square, the interest payments Swindon’s Council-tax payers are paying now looks set to only increase in future years.

At the next Full Council Meeting the Labour Group will be calling on the Conservative administration to explain how they got the Council in to this mess and how they plan to get the Council out of it. My worry is that they have no such plan and are content in allowing Council-taxpayers to pay off their massive debts.

Only a new and reforming Labour administration will be able to bring a culture of responsibility back to managing the Council’s finances. And we would do this firstly by establishing a credible plan on how the Council will reduce its £80m debt and help stop the current injustice that Council-taxpayers are having to pay for the Tories profligate spending.

Councillor Jim Grant
Swindon Labour Group Leader