Labour’s solution to Osborne’s failed plan A and Cameron’s Tory laissez faire attitude to young people will be to tax bankers bonuses and create 100,000 jobs for young people.

People still fear for their job security as redundancies climb. The Office of National Statistics reports that there were 164,000 redundancies in September to November 2011, up 14,000 on the previous quarter and 5,000 on the year. When will Osborne ditch his plan A and accept that it isn’t working?

• 72.3 per cent voted against
• 27.7 per cent in favour.
• The turnout was 65.6 per cent, which compares well with votes in other similar-sized authorities.

The information contained within those 3 short lines, hides a long and complex story full of intrigue, excitement and balderdash. The unprecedented high turn out by tenants and their convincing NO vote will add to the mounting and increasingly obvious demoralisation of the uneasy pact that existed between Tory and LibDem councillors. They were warned that it was unwise to waste pots of council taxpayers cash on a ballot that tenants did not want. They just carried on regardless without heed, intent on hammering through the council’s preferred position to sell off the council’s housing. Tories and LibDem councillors queued up to jump onto the board of the Shadow Housing Board in particular Cllrs Mavis Child, Andy Harrison, David Renard and Brian Mattock who was appointed chair.

This preferred position was in Labour’s view not the best option for the people living in the council’s homes. It would have seen the end of the secure tenancy. It did not give equal prominence to self financing of the housing stock. The Tory and LidDem councillors used all the resources at their disposal to kite their preferred position and in doing so have squandered over half a million pounds of Swindon council Tax Payers money. Yes despite losing the ballot Swindon council tax payers have to pay for it.

Tenants complained during the consultation period that they were being bombarded by pushy calls and visits prompting them to vote Yes to the council’s preferred position to become a housing association. Cllrs Russell Holland and Garry Perkins put a motion to council to deter free expression from councillors who did not support the Tory LibDem preferred position. I and other Labour councillors did not support the preferred position and believed that a council secure tenancy was the best way to protect our tenants homes and self financing was a better way to refurbish and improve council tenant’s homes. This position will now allow the council to start building houses and increase the number of houses to rent. It was shortsighted to turn over approx 18% of the houses in Swindon to a private company that was not accountable to the people of Swindon. Owning public sector housing is a strategic necessity as it ensure that private rents cannot easily escalate to levels far above what is affordable to ordinary working families.

As a member of the Labour party I would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Watts, a fellow Labour party member, who gave up his time to operate a website and author material. Tenants ran their own No to Transfer campaign and many people helped them. It is those silent helpers that who turned out delivering leaflets and talking to tenants who should be thanked.

The tenants saw the preferred position for what it was their homes would be hocked to a banker for the next 30 years. They took the decision to make their homes theirs for life as per the rights granted to them by a council secure tenancy.

In South Swindon there are 2,667 job seekers, but only 633 job registered vacancies. We need jobs here as we have been told more than once by the Conservatives Swindon is on the up, but where are the jobs?

As councillor Rod Bluh, Conservative council leader, boasted only a year ago on 14th October 2010

The future is ours to make, the momentum is with us with the college site now underway.  I am told we would be leading the UK out of recession in terms of regeneration.

We would be at the top because no one else is doing anything. If we can’t do it in Swindon they will struggle to do it elsewhere.

Perhaps Rod Bluh can tell us where it is?  The old college site is still standing. Full article here from 2010.

The football ground, County ground, Swindon Rugby club, golf courses shops and pubs etc. Now Councillor Rod Bluh the Conservative council leader has quickly stepped in since I blogged about this yesterday and tweeted about it. Rod admits that as the economy picks up he will dispose of properties to pay for regeneration. As the leader of the council he has been in charge of unprecedented borrowing levels to fund Whicelstowe and other ventures. Before Tories started borrowing to Spend, Spend, Spend their way to a Tory Utopia Swindon Council had a a net borrowing of £10million in the bank, the conservatives have as published in Labour’s election campaign in May got through a whopping eye watering amount that is in excess of £63 million. Odd the Tories will not tell us where it has gone, though they admit to £45 million on Whichelstowe. This had to be dragged out of them and people are rightly suspicious that the figure is higher. The council has had to put a note on its accounts to identify its borrowing levels something that should be an embarrassment during austere times.

I think that when Rod Bluh is quoted as saying “I hope no one is suggesting we sell off our assets at rock bottom prices” (Swindon Advertiser  6/8/11) he then asks himself  is this what Eric Pickles is doing? I believe it is exactly that, as has been proved by the Pickles and Shapps inspired fire sale of Swindon’s council houses, at the ridiculously low price of around £6,000 each! The Tories are now falling foul of their own contradictory statements about their performance and their political flip flopping is becoming legendary.

No doubt the asset sale is almost certainly likely to happen, if the housing sale falls through as the tenants can pick their landlord and the Tory Led government has to live with that. If Pickles plan A fails to sell Swindon’s council homes, I am beginning to worry that out of spite and because of the pressing need to pay down the debt they have racked up on Whicelstowe. The Tories will sell off the other assets, such as the football ground. Of course they will be pushed on by prodding from Pickles and his plan B to flog the family silver.

Success was also celebrated by Jenny Millin (Mordeon) and Steve Wakefield (Toothill & Westlea) who retained seats which were won by the Conservatives in 2007.

Labour won 9 seats in Swindon against 10 for the Tories and 1 for the LibDems (just). Voting figures are available here

The increase in Labour’s %  share of the vote since 2007 (seats are re-elected on a 4-year cycle) are as follows

• Toothill 18.5%
• Freshbrook 17.9%
• Central 12.0%
• Shaw 9.5%
• Old Town & Lawn 9.2%
• Abbey Meads 8.7%
• Eastcott 8.5%
• Covingham & Nythe 8.0%
• Walcot 7.5%
• Dorcan 7.3%
• Parks 4.9%
• Moredon 4.8%
• Penhill 4.4%
• St Philip 3.8%
• Wroughton 3.4%
• Gorsehill 2.8%
• Highworth 2.3%
• St Margaret 2.1%
• Haydon Wick 0.8%
• Western -0.4%

Across Swindon the average Labour share of the vote increased from 24.4% in 2008 and 31% in 2010 to 38.8% in 2011.

A huge vote of thanks is due to Labour campaign workers in each ward – and to the electorate of Swindon.

Please contact Swindon Labour if you wish to get involved in our activities and help shape local Labour policies during the next year.

• Support jobs with money raised from repeating the bank bonus tax – not hold back recovery with the VAT rise and cuts that will put almost one million workers out of their jobs.
• Protect police numbers – not cut them while wasting £100 million on new elected police commissioners.
• Protect your frontline local services – not make unfair cuts which will hit the least well off the most.
• Get the deficit down through strong growth and sensible cuts – not by slashing too far, too fast, and putting your local economy at risk.
• Stand up for young people – not kick away the ladder by tripling tuition fees; scrapping EMAs; cancelling Building Schools for the Future; and slashing school sport

DOWNLOAD THE SWINDON LABOUR MANIFESTO 2011

Voting Stations are open from 7am till 10pm.

Guidance on voting procedure is available from Swindon Borough Council.

Labour Candidates and their contact numbers are:

1. Abbey Meads – Mark Viner (07811 142 413).
2. Central – Derique Montaud (07711 556 261).
3. Covingham & Nythe – Peter Watts (01793 529163).
4. Dorcan – Ged Meheran (07989 918 352).
5. Eastcott – Chris Watts (07776 238 327).
6. Freshbrook & Grange Park –  Neil Heavens (07817 262 258).
7. Gorsehill & Pinehurst – John Ballman (01793 694 584).
8. Haydon Wick – Tim Page (07717 669944).
9. Highworth – Anthea Beaumont (01793 762 517).
10. Moredon – Jenny Millin (07879 023 903).
11. Old Town - Cindy Matthews (01793 644 388).
12. Parks – Fay Howard (07952 350 656).
13. Penhill – Paul Baker (01793 334 598).
14. Shaw & Nine Elms – Michael Heal (07810 872 849).
15. St Margaret – Nigel Chalk (01793 346165).
16. St Philips – Joe Tray (07813 170 202).
17. Toothill – Steve Wakefield (07775 911 922).
18. Walcot – Ellen Osa (07577 923 694) .
19. Wroughton – Geraint Day (07753 957 565).
20. Western – Des Moffatt (07709 066 707).

Polling Stations locations are available from THIS LINK:

To use this link you’ll need to know your Polling District. Check on your card – the Districts in each Ward are as follows:

1. Abbey Meads - AM1-AM4.
2. Central – CE1-CE4.
3. Covingham & Nythe – CN1-CN4.
4. Dorcan – DN1-DN4.
5. Eastcott – ET1-ET5.
6. Freshbrook & Grange Park –  FG1-FG4.
7. Gorsehill & Pinehurst – GH1-GH3.
8. Haydon Wick – HG1-HG5.
9. Highworth – HW1-HW5.
10. Moredon – MD1-MD6.
11. Old Town - TL1-TL5.
12. Parks – PK1-PK4.
13. Penhill – PH1-PH4.
14. Shaw & Nine Elms – SE1-SE4.
15. St Margaret – SM1-SM3.
16. St Philips – SP1-SP6
17. Toothill – TW1-TW3.
18. Walcot – WA1-WA3.
19. Wroughton – WC1-WC5.
20. Western – WE1-WE4.

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OFFER YOUR HELP IN NORTH SWINDON OR SOUTH SWINDON

When a Social Enterprise is crafted together it has to start off as it means to go on, it must demonstrate its ethics and principles and values. These are the historical building blocks that will identify its culture and its reputation as well as the affection that people will hold it, in their hearts. A good example is the Hospice Movement another extreme example is the Railtrack debacle.

What do we want in Swindon from our new Social Enterprise:  Hospice values and principles or a Railtrack values and principles? I know these are two extremes to use to demonstrate the values and principles of organisations that have a responsibilty to look after the public that use their services. It is about accountability and public accountability  of those who run it and their values and principles.

What has this to do with Swindon? In Swindon on Thursday night we saw the Conservative run Council demolish its “in house” home care service. There has been much made of the arguments about the rights and wrongs of this decision.  However the new Social Enterprise will get off the ground with the after-taste of this as over 10,500 people signed a petition against the Conservative Council making this decision.

Now that the Social Enterprise is starting out it has seen 64 home care staff being excluded from this joint venture between the Council and PCT it is scandalous that they have not been TUPEd as it has been classed as a “Fragmented TUPE”. I always believe a good caring employer would have pulled all the stops out to ensure that its staff were TUPEd. This has not happened in this case and some home care staff will face redundancy.

However what has surprised me was that on the day this decision was being made the Social Enterprise announced that a “Top Branding Expert” was being used to work on a logo for the Social Enterprise. How much this is going to cost tax payers will not be forgotten easily and every time that logo is shown, for some it will remind them that behind it will be a story of how a home care service was decapitated for  political expediency.

There must be some associated costs to pay for a “Top Branding Expert” at the same time people are facing unemployment, and it will be a hard one to swallow, for some 10,500 people in Swindon. I believe using a Top Branding Expert and not using Local talent such as students or running a competition is an outrageous example of Tory waste and mismanagement of tax payers money.

Cllr Steve Wakefield, Toothill

Regeneration is one of the Swindon Labour Party’s key priorities, as we know it is one of the top local issues that residents feel needs to be addressed.

In order for Swindon Borough Council to succeed with regeneration, it needs to have a clear plan for developers on how it would like Swindon’s town centre to be regenerated, it needs to make sure there is clear public accountability on how Swindon is being regenerated and it needs to encourage greater regeneration within communities.

Tory-led Swindon Borough Council has failed in delivering any of these points. They have failed to have a clear regeneration plan for the town centre, which has meant that regeneration still hasn’t started in any meaningful way; they have failed to give clear public accountability on regeneration, funding an unelected and publicly unaccountable quango to the tune of £760,000 in the last financial year; and they have failed to embrace regeneration schemes that involve local communities.

The Swindon Labour Party believes more needs to be done to address regeneration in our town.

A Labour-led Swindon Borough Council would:

• Develop a proper and credible plan for the Swindon town centre, providing a clear blueprint for regeneration, including greater consideration of Swindon’s railway heritage
• Review the effectiveness and value for money of the Forward Swindon Regeneration Company and assess the practicalities of Swindon Council having full autonomy over the borough’s regeneration and town centre regeneration
• Give communities a greater power over the regeneration of their areas and allow for smaller scale regeneration developments through initiatives such as a Council Local Development Order, where local business people would not have to immediately comply with planning regulations in order to takeover disused buildings
• Support Swindon Town Football Club in its ambitions for a new football stadium in the town

Surestart is there to give children a sure footing as they make their first steps in life. Labour did not tinker at the edges they had a grand plan some 3,500 Surestart Centres Swindon is fortunate to have 14 of these centres. The centres are more than just a vital public service they put vitality back into the community by helping children and families. This vitality is an investment in the future it is not a luxury child minding service for yummy mummies, it is a tried and tested formula. With 10 years under its belt and hundreds of thousands of children benefiting from them, Surestart Centres are giving children a better start in life. David Cameron himself said of Surestart:

The point is that we support Sure Start, we will keep Sure Start. (Telegraph 11/1/10)

That is why we are shocked to hear that funding to Swindon’s Surestart Centres is being cut by up to 33% . Penhill will bear the brunt of  the cuts and it has caused shock in Penhill as people are outraged by what the Libdem Conservative Coalition is doing. The Tories may lead the coalition, but without the support of the Libdems there would be no coalition government and no cuts.  Cllr David Renard speaking to the Swindon Advertiser did not do anything to calm users  fears by dispelling the rumour, in fact he added to it when he said :

“There is a rumour of a third cut in the provision but I don’t think it will look as drastic as that. Until we have worked through everything we are not in a position to be specific”.

Cllr Renard admitted that Penhill was a flagship centre:

“The SureStart centre in Penhill was one of the first ones the previous government set up and set up with an extremely generous amount of ring fenced money as it was one of the flagships of the programme,”

So why cut it?  Only Tories would downgrade a flagship what they hope to do is to shave funds from each Surestart Centre so that they do not have to close any.  Making a flagship service into a skeleton service will do nothing for the 1000+ children using them in Swindon. This is heartless it is nothing more than a sham they do not want to close one centre, but will let them wither away. It is nothing less than political  vandalism of a vital service. A cruel cut that will hit thousands of Swindon  children now and in future.

Also affected are Childrens Centres in Penhill, Goddard Park, Westcott St, Freshbroom, Drove Rd, Gorsehill, Middleleaze, Eldene, Stratton, Highworth, Croft and Abbeymeads.

Please contact us with your support and leave a comment below…

Fay Howard, Councillor for Parks and Labour Spokesperson for Children and Youth Services;  Steve Wakefield, Councillor Toothill & Westlea;  Paul Baker, Councillor Penhill.

“VAT has increased to its highest ever level and unemployment is beginning to climb as cutbacks are made in both the public private sectors. Young people are being hit very hard by this, and tuition fees are being raised at the same time as the EMA payments to young people are stopped. People now in their mid fifties will have to work an extra year before they are able to claim their pension. Services for older and vulnerable people will be squeezed tighter than needed and they will be asked to pay more for their care. There will be much for me to do in Toothill and Westlea and I will now have to fight to retain services and work hard to bring back the values of compassion and care to the forefront of the Borough Council’s agenda rather than cuts and privatisation. I look forward to being able to continue representing and working for you as your Local Councillor ”.