Wi-Failed : Digital City Boss Paid £82,000 of Our Money

The boss of Swindon Borough Council-funded Digital City was paid £82,000 for 'coaching fees' during his tenure. The news is in today's Swindon Advertiser, a link to come later.

The company was set up to provide Borough-wide Wi-Fi access through an initial £400,000 loan from Swindon Borough Council.

The company failed to meet a single target and is dead in the water.

Swindon Centric Says ; Disgusting, shameful. To paraphrase a previously used line, if you stand on the top of the David Murray John Building (where Digital City were given free offices by Swindon Borough Council), on a clear day you can see a democratic council.

Wi-Failed : Were Things Wrapped Up?

Did Swindon Borough Council know more about the Wi-Failed scheme (and how much danger the project, and the £400,000 of public money) were in? New details have emerged today of the botched attempt to bring free wi-fi to everywhere and everyone in the Borough.

A month before a Scrutiny meeting in March this year, a councillor was briefed on the current state of Digital City.

Swindon Centric Says ; How much, and in what depth, was the state of Digital City's finances and the frozen roll-out plan discussed, and what elements of this did not reach the Scrutiny meeting the following month?

We want our money back, getting someone else to give you £400,000 (that is not the original £400,000) is not 'recovering the money', it's 'attempting to recover your political integrity'.

Wi-Failed ; Council Leader Admits, The Money's Gone

Yes, that's right, click here.

Swindon Centric Says ; Armchair Auditors across town, you know who you are, raise a glass tonight.

PS - Being vigilant, thorough and questioning isn't being politically opportunistic - it's democratically necessary.

Wi-Failed ; Death Held Off For Truth To Come Forth

Pages Councillor Perkins?

The automatic striking off of Swindon's wi-fi company (taken £400,000 of our money and showing us precious little for it) would have allowed answers to questions to be buried for ever.

Mr Richard Symonds has written and objected to the striking off, which will now be postponed until the end of February.

Swindon Centric Says ; Coming soon, those long-overdue Digital City accounts (and where that money went and what it was spent on)... Maybe?

Isn't it great what the written word can, and may yet, achieve?

Wi-Failed : Closest To Accountability We Got (So Far?)

Cast your mind back to March last year, and to a sparse House of Commons chamber, then MP for Swindon South, Anne Snelgrove, raised the questions about the wi-fi scheme for Swindon that's now dead. Her words are as relevant now as they were nearly 18 months ago.

Swindon Centric Says ; Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland, MPs for Swindon North and South, what are you waiting for?

Where's the questions, concern and accountability from them?

New Blogger, New Politics, New Swindon

Thanks to the efforts of TalkSwindon, Swindon has a busy, feisty, and wide-ranging platform for political and current affairs debate.

A new blogger has emerged on the Borough scene, former Swindon South Labour MP Anne Snelgrove has a new blog on all things politics and town, hitting the ground running with a statistical post about Job Seeker's Allowance and GCSE results that's generated a lot of feedback.

Swindon Centric Says ; Councillor Steve Wakefield wrote here, "... who knows politics may go viral in Swindon?" It would be great if it did, but one thing's for certain, political debate and analysis in Swindon went viral nearly 18 months ago.

And it's tipping point? Wi-fi. Strange to think how a huge political stumble has been the making of grassroots democracy in Swindon.

That's one thing the wi-fi has achieved.

Former MP Anne Starts The Walk To 2015

Predictions of cracks in the coalition have been doing the rounds since last May and the long-look forward to the next general election has already started.

As reported in the Swindon Advertiser, the former MP for Swindon South, Anne Snelgrove, is in the selection process for the Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency.

Swindon Centric Says ; Anne and Robert, it'll be a contest worth watching!

Anne Snelgrove Rips Apart The Wi-Fi Scheme, Live In Parliament

You can watch the House of Commons debate live right now and TalkSwindon's contribution (about the Directorship) has just been talked of!

Watch it live here.

Swindon Centric Says ; Democracy from Swindon's citizen journalism to the House of Commons! Hooray to all concerned!

Musing On The Mode Of Town Centre's Stagnation

Swindon Borough Council have now officially announced that the Regent Place scheme, championed by Modus, is dead.

However we're assured that the Union Square (old Fleming Way Post Office site) scheme, to be carried out by Muse, is "moving ahead".

But this small piece of news from last year shows an ironic twist. A celebratory lunch (was it on expenses? Surely not!), organised by Anne Snelgrove MP wasn't attended by the group it was arranged for, Muse (in recognition of the Union Square deal). So instead, the crustless sandwiches and little cakes were in honour of the people from Modus, celebrating the Regent's Regent Place deal.

Oh the irony.

Swindon Centric Says ; If the Union Square scheme gets built, I'll give Anne Snelgrove and everyone at the New Swindon Company a jam donut*. Probably, depending on the current economic conditions and what the response of the market is to a donut-based investment in the vibrant hub that is Swindon.

* Offer is subject to withdrawal at anytime.

Web Voting Unreality From Swindon's Returning Officer

Swindon's Deputy Returning Officer Alan Winchcombe seems to live in a parallel universe, a bit like in Back To The Future Part 2.

He's been defending the e-voting that took place in Swindon for the local elections in May. Despite one of the town's MP's saying she found the system 'unacceptable', despite the Electoral Commission saying further trials had 'little merit', Mr Winchcombe seems to think the system's fine.

He said the system didn't work in some places but did work in Swindon.

How did it work? Did it work by taking into the early hours of the following morning for the e-votes to be counted, longer than their paper ballot equivalent? Did it work by the equipment being set up in a rush of a few weeks, when it should have taken months of preparation? Did it work by some people thinking they had only the option of voting electronically? Did it work by having inadequete booths, were it could be witnessed several feet away who those on PCs were voting for?

Swindon Centric Says ; But don't expect these questions to be answered by Alan Winchcombe, he's stuck in an alternative 1985, where Swindon 'Hill Valley' is controlled by Biff Tannen and the town hall is a casino hotel.

Late Edition Election Special ; Play Solitaire While You Wait To Vote

After the late night for most of our councillors at the Oasis this morning and last night, things stayed almost the same as before. The Conservatives still control Swindon Borough Council, the BNP didn't gain any seats in the town and about 30% of us actually voted.

The biggest issue of the night seems to be the trial electronic voting system at many polling stations yesterday. Being a wireless system, it relied on a strong broadband connection which was not maintained at all places and caused disruption in some wards. There was initial concern that problems could allow people to vote twice, this was later dismissed by the returning officer.

Anne Snelgrove, Labour MP for South Swindon, did say she found the system unacceptable, with people able to see who you were voting for, staff instructing people on the process of voting were able to watch who voters cast for and that therefore it undermines the usual process of voting. Party politics aside, she does raise important points, which no other local councillors were heard talking about.

But this was a trial, so feedback will be of prime importance.

Swindon Centric Says ; We can't help thinking that voting on a slip of paper with a pencil and ballot box is symbolic and highly efficent, lets give people the option of using a PC if they like (just like e-voting and postal votes), but you're never going to get an error message with a paper slip and a big black ballot box are you?