You've Overshot the Consultation Street Stop, Hello?

That seems to be the case on the Groundwell Park & Ride cut.

The passengers trying to save their service reported that the staff at the site had already been paid their redundancy money, before the council meeting, on Monday evening (at which the final decision on the service was meant to be made).

As the dust begins to clear, but the question that no-one seems to be asking the council is why had staff already been given redundancy money before the 'final decision' was made?

Swindon Centric Says ; Was the consultation a sham? Would councillors like to answer this question and explain?

PS - How can the cabinet member for 'Sustainability, Transport & Strategic Planning' (Peter Greenhalgh) seriously dismiss the increase in cars driving into the town centre by saying that this would be cancelled out by not having the park and ride buses running? (This was reported in the Adver's print edition)

Is Mr Greenhalgh aware that a bus only needs to be a third full to be more efficient than the equivalent number of single-occupancy utilised cars? Or does he think all the Groundwell site commuters will be driving into town in hybrids and electric cars when the site closes? Perhaps he's thinking some of them might be Mr Fusion powered DeLoreans?

The Snow - Best Place To Bury Bad News

There are reports today that council tax is expected to rise by 3.5% and the information has been accidently 'leaked' out.

A couple of things about this are rather smelly.

Firstly, this number comes from papers which are to be used at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday when a decision will be made. Surely no decision will be made about the final figure until the meeting? Otherwise the process is a farce if, behind closed doors, an agreement about the number has been made, the meeting would be rather pointless.

Secondly, when Shirley Ludford on Swindon 105.5 mentioned the story in a phone interview with councillor Nick Martin this morning, his response was, "oh, it's been leaked out, has it?" Now the cynic in me thought he sounded not-at-all surprised. But maybe that's the view you get of leaks of information when you've been in office as long as Mr Martin has.

Thirdly, is this a preemptive 'lets make the figure worse than it is, then come in with a lower one, the real one, to everyone's relief and be seen in good light for manipulating people's expectations' ploy?

Swindon Centric Says ; A genuine leak? An 'authorised one? A political spinning of the council tax?

Which one is it? We'll have to wait until the thaw to see what's under the snow.