From a total of 128,433 votes cast Labour received 57,462 (44.7%) compared to 50,866 for the Tories (39.6%) and 11,302 for the LibDems (8.8%) – so Labour actually gained 5% more of the vote than than the Tories!

Congratulations to the following 24 Labour Councillors:

• Central:  Junab Ali, Julie Wright, Bob Wright
• Covingham & Dorcan: Julian Price
• Gorse Hill & Pinehurst: John Ballman, Ray Ballman, Rochelle Russell
• Liden & Eldene:  Neil Heavens, Fay Howard, Derique Montaud
• Lydiard & Freshbrook: Cindy Matthews
• Mannington & Western: Jim Robbins, Kevin Small, Steve Wakefield
• Old Town: Nadine Watts
• Penhill & Upper Stratton: Paul Baker, Teresa Page, Joe Tray
• Rodbourne Cheney: Jim Grant, Des Moffatt, Peter Watts
• Walcott & Park North: Steve Allsopp, Abdul Amin, Mark Dempsey

Swindon is now one of 170 councils that have taken back control of all the income from their housing stock. The Tories said this was not their preferred position and their warning  of we’re all doomed if tenants voted No. Self financing commenced at the end of last month despite Tory warnings during the ballot of Fraser like utterances of “we’re all doomed” if tenants did not accept the Tory preferred position.

With a one off payment to adjust the Council’s finances of millions of pounds by Swindon Borough council  to the Tory government saw the end to the old system of Treasury pooled council house rental income. This was a system where all the rental incomes from councils were put into one pot and then redistributed according to the government’s assessment of local need.

Under the new housing revenue self financing accounting system, not only will Swindon be able to maintain its existing houses to sustainable standards. It will allow increasing investment in existing council housing and more importantly allow the building of new homes.

The Localism Bill, which tilts planning in favour of development may bring back applications north of Hay Lane. Labour is opposed to this and is taking a petition to the next full Council to ensure we keep our officially designated open spaces.

Proposals are under discussion for house building off Gainsborough Way on the old playground site in front of Cottington Close and Crawford Close. This is currently a piece of open amenity land for the residents which will be lost if it is built on.

There are also planning applications progressing for mobile telephone masts across West Swindon which are causing concerns that Cindy, Ged and Jamal are taking forward on your behalf.

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.”

It must have taken him a while to write, and yet at around the same time, he publicly berated the Labour Party in Swindon for, and I quote from a tweet he made on the 27^th March, being “too busy issuing press releases”.  Might this be because Labour are bringing the failings or the Tory administration to light, which takes me nicely to my next point.

Another interesting observation is that Cllr Bluh recently told a Local Government Association event that “we need to stop being precious with our data and get beyond the fear of sharing”.

According to Openly Local, a website that presents open data sets provided by local authorities, who should be on their list of “Councils with no open data” but Tory run Swindon Borough Council.

From what I can tell, Swindon Borough Council doesn’t license any data under the Government’s own “Open Government Licence” – something local authorities are encouraged to do.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.  The Conservatives in Swindon are just for transparency and open data practices in theory, while ensuring information does not get shared in practice in case it paints them in a negative light.

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

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.

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

Pledge: No more top-down reorganisations of the NHS
“With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down restructures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS.” David Cameron, speech at the Royal College of Pathologists, 2 November 2009.

Reality: David Cameron’s Government has launched the biggest top-down reorganisation in the NHS’s history, wasting billions at the same time as cutting over 3,000 nurses. The NHS is being turned into a full-blown commercial market, putting competition before patient care.

Pledge: Get Britain working
“Get Britain working by giving unemployed people support to get work” A contract between the Conservative Party
and you, May 2010.

Reality: Under David Cameron, unemployment is at its highest rate in 16 years, and the economy has only grown by 0.2 per cent since the Spending Review in October 2010. As a result of its failure on growth and jobs, the Government is set to borrow £158 billion more than it planned during this Parliament.

Pledge: More police on the streets
“We will BACK the police by cutting red tape to get more police onto the streets” A contract between the Conservative Party and you, May 2010.

Reality: David Cameron’s Government is cutting the policing budget by 20 per cent, which means over 16,000 police officers ill be cut by the end of the Parliament. Over 4,000 frontline officers were cut in the Tory-led Government’s first year, and last year saw the steepest rise in personal crime in over a decade.

Pledge: Control immigration, reducing it to the levels of the 1990s
“Control immigration, reducing it to the levels of the 1990s – meaning tens of thousands a year, instead of the hundreds of  thousands a year under Labour.” A contract between the Conservative Party and you, May 2010

Reality: Under David Cameron, far from being cut, net migration has risen by 15,000 year on year. The Tory-led Government is cutting over 5,000 staff from the UK Border Agency, deporting fewer foreign criminals, stopping fewer people who shouldn’t be in the UK from coming in, and removing fewer people who should not be here.

Pledge: No cuts to child benefit
“I wouldn’t change child benefit, I wouldn’t means test it, I don’t think that is a good idea.” David Cameron, Cameron Direct in Bolton, 5 March 2010.

Reality: David Cameron’s Government is abolishing child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers, meaning that a single earner household with three children earning £43,000 will lose almost £2,500, even though a double-earner household on £84,000 could keep all their child benefit.

Pledge: No cuts to tax credits for low-income families
“On this issue of tax credits we are saying we like tax credits, we will keep tax credits but for families earning over £50,000 we think that we can’t afford the child tax credit. That is one of the savings that we are being up front and frank about but for Gordon Brown to say that actually the changes we are making would hit low income families is simply not true.” David Cameron, Leaders’ TV debate, 29 April 2010.

Reality: David Cameron’s Government is cutting childcare tax credit, costing working families up to £1,500 a year, and from this April some part-time workers on the minimum wage will lose £73 per week – meaning they and their families would be better off on benefits.

Just as businesses in Swindon have declared – the Tories strategy is not for low growth; but no growth.  Under Labour in the 1980s Swindon became a powerhouse for inward investment attracting Honda, BMW and Nationwide. We were the zero unemployment town.  Under the Tories youth unemployment stands at the second highest in the South West region.

The Tories economic strategy is hurting but not working.   Families, pensioners and businesses already know the Tories cuts are hurting.  Unemployment has soared to 2.67 million, the highest levels for 16 years.  And youth unemployment is at its highest level since records began.

And with the Tories plunging the Council into £116 million of debt – it’s just not working.   Who is paying the price of the Tories economic failure?  Families with a 150,000 cut to SureStart; the disabled with a £615,000 cut for help for disabled care; and the sick with a £150,000 cut for bus services to Great Western Hospital.

What should the budget have said?.  At the heart of the budget we need a plan for growth and a long term vision for rebuilding our economy.

Nationally we should implement Labour’s 5 point plan for jobs including a new bankers bonus tax to fund 100,000 jobs for young people.  In Swindon we should do the same and cut senior management costs and spend the money on apprenticeships getting young people back to work.

We also need a long term economic strategy.  Swindon Labour’s proposed 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.

We will also establish a new inward investment team to market Swindon and build relationships with businesses.   To help Swindon’s successful businesses to grow and expand, we will establish mini enterprise zones to attract supply chain businesses of Swindon’s major manufacturers.

To increase local opportunity for education and skills, we will build a long term plan for a University for Swindon.  Finally we will create a new Masterplan for the regeneration of Swindon Town Centre.

Instead of these cuts, we need to build a plan for the economic future of Swindon.  With a strong economic strategy Swindon can once again become an economic powerhouse for jobs and prosperity.