Just(in) out of touch

The elephant in the room in Justin Tomlinson's online response to last night's government defeat, was no mention of the 118 Conservative MPs who voted against.

Interesting that he instead mentioned the opportunity of opposition MPs to 'wreck Brexit'.

Interesting there was no mention of his own party colleagues who seem to be doing that.

Interesting even further that he seems to be playing politics with a huge moment. Even though he's the first person to accuse opposition parties of playing politics.

Strong and stable.

Anyone for a Cheeky Justin?

Justin Tomlinson got a tour of the new Nandos at the Orbital.

Plenty of quotes about the economic and leisure benefits for residents of the area, but precious little (make that zero) on the nutritional value of a cheeky Nandos. Especially in comparison to other fast-food choices.

Did he go for a good runabout afterwards?

On The Slow Train To Daleville

When politicians have to use public services, they quickly realise why the public thinks the way they do about them.

The latest to come-of-age is Councillor Dale 'I-forgot-to-pay-my-council-tax' Heenan, who's realised how pricey railway season tickets are as he commutes to Bath for work.

Maybe Councillor Dale 'There's-only-one-n-in-Swindon''There's-only-one-n-in-Swindon' could get his mate MP Justin 'Can I interest you in a press release?' Tomlinson to explain the railways, as evidence suggest he's nothing but informed and consistent, especially on the topic of fares.

For a railway town, some of our politicians knowledge calls for one announcement, "MIND THE GAP."

I'm not one to gossip, but I just did

People have been spitting out drinks, choking on food and making faces of many and varied after Justin 'PR Campaign' Tomlinson put the phrase 'I don't like to be overtly political in my weekly column' in his Adver column.

HA!

If there's one thing Tomlinson does well, it's making everything overtly political.

Do Android MP PR Bots Dream of Electric Cars?

As predicted, the decision by BMW to produce an electric version of the mini was instantly seized upon by one Swindon politician as evidence that a 'hard Brexit' is the best option.

Interesting that Tomlinson has been silent on the BMW strike.

Interesting too that Tomlinson has also been silent on the fall in UK car sales by 13.7%, the third fall in a row.

Maybe he needs charging up.

Swindon Election - Tomlinson's Favourite Train 'The Flipping Flopsman'

For an MP of a railway town, Justin Tomlinson's attitude towards railways doesn't seem to know if it's coming or going.

Tomlinson talked in August 2014 of working hard to limit annual ticket price rises (despite it being government who control the rises), but has voted four times to not controlling public transport ticket prices.

He also appears to have remained silent on pleas from bus companies for help on the Bus Service Operators Grant.

He also sees fit to claim that Labour did not invest money in the railways. Once again, Tomlinson has not read his recent history, that it was Labour who announced the Great Western Main Line electrification, but that's not stopped him claiming the investment for himself and the Conservatives Theresa May party on every single one of his election leaflets.

Stand back from the platform edge, it's the 'Flipping Flopsman' storming through.

Swindon Election : Town Tories Silent on Honda Accord for Brexit

'Strong and stable' may be Theresa's mantra, but for Swindon's incumbent MPs 'silent and still' would suit on the Honda Brexit elephant in the room.

The government has promised Sunderland's Nissan something (but has not admitted it), no doubt officials from Honda UK have been keen to get similar treatment, but nothing has been revealed in public.

But never mind our MPs since June last year, who have gone into the election campaign without a word about the 3,500 workforce's future outside the EU, or those many thousands locally in the supply chain for the South Marston plant that will depend on whatever deal is eventually struck on exiting the EU.

The industrial backbone (along with at least 3,500 voters) of Swindon deserves better treatment from it's local incumbent Tory candidates.

Out-of-Town Tomlinson Plays Sim City, Badly

Justin Tomlinson's attitude to his own party's council-owned Forward Swindon seems tied to political opportunities as they come along.

He recently slagged off Forward Swindon for 'stubbornness' with regard to the old carriage works on London Street and why they hadn't just let developers get their hands on them like the buildings north of the railway that he toured with a fellow minister on a visit.

Tomlinson's argument is as shallow as his depth of knowledge on his own town's history, and, oddly, the way government processes work. The reason the Historic England offices (along with the Outlet, Steam, the Test Chain flats development and the Bottelino's restaurant) are as high quality developments as they are is because all the buildings were hurriedly listed when it became clear the developers of the works site wanted to pull down, or heavily alter, most of what was there. As a result of the listings, the developers of the works have had to meet high levels of sympathetic development.

Private developers don't retain nice old fittings just because they're nice, but because they legally have to if the building is given a Grade Listing.

He also suggests that developers have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on the old carriage works buildings, hardly, they've been mostly empty for over 10 years!

Tomlinson isn't adverse to riding on the coat tails of Forward Swindon and others when there's publicity for the asking, such as when TNT praised the organisation's help in getting them to South Marston.

It says much that Tomlinson's office is now in a brand new glass carbuncle at the Orbital and not in one of the empty 1980s/1990s units at one of the many business parks across North Swindon.

Tomlinson has remained quiet on the Swindon Gateway development that was criticised by many of his own residents, labelled 'bland' and 'uninspiring architecturally' by a Swindon Borough Council planning officer (listed under 'Urban Design Comments - 26-05-16'), officially objected to by the owners of Regent Circus and The Parade and was part of an intense lobbying (listed under numerous 'objection comments') campaign against it from the inSwindon BID organisation. Plus according to Forward Swindon, the development rides roughshod (listed under 'Email from Forward Swindon Re Kimmerfields') over rules for available land for the same development closer to the town centre.

So is he on the side of unrestricted privately-led development, or partnership working between Forward Swindon and developers? It must depend on the level of publicity available.

Feckless & Cowardly Conservative Councillors Hang Parishes Out To Die

There's an awful lot of skulking happening around Swindon's Civic Offices at present and with good reason.

The biggest transfer of power at local government level in Swindon since the creation of the Borough in 1997 is currently afoot with the foisting upon of Borough responsibilities to current parishes and the newly (yet to properly be created) ones.

As a result of this, there's a scramble to set the parish precept (the amount with the annual council tax bill that covers the services carried out by the parish within your area) with all these newly foisted upon services suddenly having to be taken into account. This is quite a shock administratively and politically as many simply cut the grass until recently.

Haydon Wick has voted a 50% increase in tax.

Stratton has voted a 27% increase in tax.

Wroughton has voted a 16.5% increase for a band D property.

Meanwhile the Borough Council has not raised council tax in Swindon since 2007, teetered on the brink of service-provision oblivion, dumped said services into the laps of parishes (and where they've not existed, just forced their undemocratic creation), and seen them have no choice but to raise tax to eye-watering levels.

Other authorities have and are doing it differently. Surrey County Council is proposing a 15% council tax increase, it, like Swindon, is Conservative-run and has had enough of government nationally sticking it's fingers in it's ears and thinking if it can't hear, everything's fine.

Swindon Borough Council's ruling Tories have done nothing of the sort, they have axed, cut and closed services while they could have been lobbying parliament nationally with the help of their Conservative MPs and putting their heads above the parapet and fighting for the people of Swindon.

But they've not. They've done nothing.

Swindon Borough Council's Conservatives are feckless, cowardly and irresponsible with the future of the Borough.

But I'm sure in the next financial year those three talents will be devolved to parishes.

Welcome to the Rotten Borough (now with 50% more parish for 50% more money).

My Mummy Closed My Library

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson has made no secret of his pride at being a local councillor when Swindon's Central Library opened. He also proudly tells us that his first debate in parliament was on the topic of libraries. He also proudly tells us that he and his wife are regular users of North Swindon Library and Moredon & Rodbourne Cheney Library.

He may be in the embarrassing position in the near future of seeing his mother, Councillor Vera Tomlinson, vote through massive cuts in the libraries budget.

'My mummy closed my library', maybe he can put that on his election leaflets in 2020.

Gone a bit Wonga

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson really isn't having a good time of it at the moment.

Last week it was reported that he had broken parliamentary rules after sharing a draft confidential report with Wonga.

Now the Daily Mirror has reported that references to Wonga have been removed/edited from a four year-old post from his website detailing his success in securing a sponsorship deal for Swindon Supermarine with the payday lender.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing, but the chairman of Supermarine is seething, and quite rightly, at the tone of the article.

By The Numbers on Honda and BMW

A statistical analysis of North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson's weekly column from the Swindon Advertiser about the Honda news.

Frequency of works and phrases within the column -

I = 4

We = 7

Investment = 6

Manufacturing = 4

Debt = 1

Reckless = 1

Financial Sector = 1

Our = 5

Skilled = 2

Jobs = 2

Recession = 0

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.

MP Risks Losing Youth Tag With Graffiti Dismissal

It seems strange that an MP (and before that a councillor) who champions many policies that impact young people should be so dismissive of a small-scale Parish decision on graffiti walls.

In his Swindon Advertiser column of the 21st of October (yes, I'm a little behind!) Mr. Tomlinson dismisses the idea of legal graffiti walls since they didn't work at Mannington in 2001.

Feedback to Swindon Centric from someone who used them was that the structures weren't the best to use as a canvas, being slatted and at an angle. The site itself, immediately to the South West of where the John Lewis at Home store is now, between the Mannington Retail Park and railway line, allowed people to joyride onto it, resulting in a car being burnt out, not helping anyone.

The majority of legal graffiti sites tend to be in urban areas, where people will actually see the work produced. If you're going to add criminal connotations to an activity, shove it away where no-one will see it and you're halfway there.

Funny how in his column Mr. Tomlinson did not mention his once frequently-lauded achievement whilst in council office, that the free graffiti removal service offered by Swindon Borough Council was his idea (diverting money from a non-needed I.T budget if memory serves).

Swindon Centric Says ; How much of that money could be saved by having even a small amount of tags diverted to a legal graffiti wall? This is the same MP who is lobbying for children to be taught sound financial management. Oh dear.

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?