Swindon Election Leaflets - Lights, Cameras, Matt-action!

Very little seems to stand-out in Councillor Brian Mattock's election leaflet. It's a very Swindon Tory leaflet, listing 'achievements' that would have happened anyway, refurbished playgrounds (carried out by SBC staff), more class spaces (undertaken by the schools involved), footbridge replacement (hopefully done by an engineer), putting Christmas lights up (maybe Councillor Mattock is the spirit of crimbo? Doubt it), road resurfacing (does he have his own steam roller?), and finally the achievement of a private organisation spending it's own private money on the Croft Sports Centre.

What a jack of all-other-people's trades!

But it doesn't stop there, voters of Old Town and East Wichel. It's time to recycle some previous announcements, in the very best Swindon Tory election leaflet traditions :

- Prudent use of council tax (the mantra now for over 5 years).

- Vision for Swindon (an updated version of the 'promises', in some cases so vague, they're meaningless and immeasurable).

- A new bus station (promised and announced many times since 2008).

- Aspen House redevelopment (same as above, since 2012).

- The Oasis redevelopment (same as above).

- Support for Old Town Library (so vague it's meaningless, and contrary to SBC announcements on what it wants for libraries, as in only pay for the Central Library).

Well done Councillor Mattock, what a leaflet, such 'achievement' by the Mattock Man!

Top Town Thamesdown Return after Bruce Street Bungle?

Say it quietly, quickly and with a spoonful of healthy doubt - the work on Swindon's Bruce Street Bridges appears to have been completed.

The less said about the 'give way the wrong way junction' junction and the vast amount of bleak tarmac that's a massively wide footpath (why didn't they just put in more bushes and greenery?), the multiple overruns and the countless time and money wasted with residents stuck in queues, the better.

Can we soon look forward to Thamesdown Transport's service 13 and 14 now returning to their original routing via Commercial Road and Regent Circus for daytime weekdays?

As Thamesdown's chief said last August, the services had been rerouted via Station Road to allow a quicker service recovery due to the long queues at Bruce Street Bridges whilst the work overran, and overran and and overran.

The project was also announced as 'substantially complete', twice. Here and here. Great job there Councillor Dale Heenan, the councillor in charge. Interestingly, Councillor Heenan was quite happy to get his face in the paper for the new Stratton Green Bridge opening, but Swindoncentric doubts he'll perform a grand ribbon-cutting at Bruce Street Bridges.

So when will passengers from Haydon Wick and Moredon on the 13 and 14 be able to enjoy direct service back to the usual routing?

The dismantling of Swindon 2 : Now they've come for our libraries

First it was leisure centres, then it was Lydiard, now it's the libraries.

The dismantling of Swindon's civic infrastructure has taken a frightening twist.

Swindon Borough Council wants to cut the budget for Swindon Libraries by 65% by 2020, and wants to save £300,000 in the next year. Eventually, it wants 14 of the 15 libraries to be run by volunteers, with the Central Library being the only SBC-funded library in the entire borough by 2020 (no doubt with less services in it than currently).

That's it. No other option, it would seem, is being entertained by SBC. 

Last year, Swindon Libraries loaned 1,013,108 books. That's 5 for every person in the borough.

Last year, Swindon Libraries had 1,049,172 people visit.

Out of 16 comparator authorities, Swindon Libraries came third for engaging with the public, placing Swindon 3rd for the number of active borrowers per 1,000 population.

Despite being a smaller library service, in the South West, Swindon Libraries is ranked 2nd for number of visits and 1st for the number of books issued.

Swindon Borough Councillors will talk endlessly about making the town better, about vague visions, aspirations and a town we can be proud of with a new museum and art gallery, a university, waves of private sector investment and a town centre that's nice to look at and be in.

Well here's a bit of our town that functions well, actually, better than well, excellently well when compared with library services in many other places and costs us each 3 pence a day. Yes, changes are needed, but cutting out a town's access to a high quality service that serves children, young families, students, the jobless, the socially isolated, the economically isolated, the geographically isolated, the uneducated, the education-hungry, the elderly, ethnic minorities, the poor, those with learning difficulties, those with dementia, the homeless, the new arrivals, visitors, those with low confidence but high hopes, the weak, the ill, the ambitious, the studious, the driven, the curious - the people of Swindon, is a cruel and cowardly act.

Who amongst our councillors will stand and fight against this and for all these people above? 

Do they have the guts? 

Because they certainly have the votes, because we elected them.

Our town's motto is 'Salubritas et Industria' translated as 'health and industry', a healthy town is an educated one, the Victorians knew that, but it appears Swindon Borough Council either doesn't understand it, or doesn't care. 

Maybe they need to visit a library for some help.

Bruce Street Bungle - peak time over night time right time

Avoid Bruce Street Bridges today if you value your sanity!

Swindon Borough Council has given this stellar advice, as the rebuilding work today sees resurfacing happening. This will mean only two lanes available at evening peak time and long delays during the day.

As Network Rail gets on with it's work at Stratton Green Bridge, why didn't SBC schedule the work over a very small number of nights? This happens in other parts of the world, but somehow, the least disruptive option for road users (the night time noise to local residents would be regrettable, but if it could shorten the delays they suffer day after day, it could be welcomed) is the one that has not been taken up for this work.

Maybe SBC needs to up it's skill and knowledge levels for projects like this, as it seems the residents have better ideas as to how to carry out the work than they do.

20 and out

Sense has prevailed and the Thamesdown Transport service 20 will not return.

Despite politicians trying to lay the blame for it's demise at Thamesdown's door, the straight-talking from the bus company's head should be commended for making it clear that the service never covered it's costs.

Swindon Borough Council can "um" and "ah" about it's withdrawal and there being subsidy available to run some sort of service, but when that subsidy is only £25,000, you can see the deep blue water between politics and reality of how much it costs to run a bus service on the ground.

Swindon Gives Away The Crown Jewels

Is giving a private company Swindon's Oasis Leisure Centre, in return for it's refurbishment and substantial expansion the only option, or an austerity-cloaked privatisation?

The plan for a Snowdome at the Oasis North Star area is not new and the fact it's reached this far is great news. But is the part of the deal that the company concerned, Morai Capital Investments, will be allowed to build this leisure addition, in return for full modernisation of the Oasis, too high a price to pay?

And the Swindon Card you may own? That won't be usable at the Oasis any more.

In the same way that the street light switch-off was spun that it would save us substantial amounts of money in the long-term, what the real story consists of, is our local authority getting out of having to worry about the town's infrastructure. The 'saving' councillors talked about concerning the lights was actually the cost of replacing the lights, as the areas in question included street lights which were rapidly approaching the end of their working lives. The spin about the lights being in areas 'it wasn't thought they would be much needed', or the environmental benefits, was just that, spin.

A 'get-it-off-our-books-as-quickly-as-you-can' attitude.

Swindon Centric Says ; Were the options of direct capital investment from Swindon Borough Council even looked at? Did the council even research taking out loans to modernise the town's assets? If they did, are these documents available for us to see please?

Time for a Freedom of Information Request maybe?

Swindon Election : Councillors Start Self-Parody

The story about Councillor Vera Tomlinson being shocked at being offered drugs at Redhouse Shops in North Swindon needs no further comment from me as the Swindon Adver and the comments by Inspector Charlie Ducker (great name) do the job for me.

Just read the story here.

Swindon Centric Says ; Welcome to the 20th Century Councillor Tomlinson! Are you ready for us to tell you about text speak? We'll keep that bombshell for next week.

Last Waltz At The Locarno?

The owner of Swindon's derelict Locarno/Corn Exchange/Old Town Hall has applied for permission to demolish the remaining structure.

Previously the site was to be rebuilt, but permission to build on the adjacent carpark (which would make the plan economically viable) was withdrawn by councillors and the latest area of limbo began.

Coming only a few days after Leader of the Council Rod Bluh declared his support for getting the building restored, this could be another crunch moment for Swindon Borough Council's attitude towards the town's heritage. A similar situation occurred for the Mechanic's Institute, which, far from being restored, is on the agenda of the Prince's Trust for a long-term project.

Swindon Centric Says ; The easy option would be to grant Mr Gael MacKenzie permission to demolish the building. Go for the difficult option and dive into the deep end of long-term restoration and commitment. This town needs ownership of it's heritage and that needs courage and political commitment.

A Slice of Local Pie For All

Swindon Centric would like to welcome Bumpkinpie's Blog to the town's online presence.

Swindon Centric Says ; Dishing it out since 2010 , with a tagline like that, it should go far.

The Case of the Disappeared Directors & The Offshore Owner

The news from tonight's scrutiny committee is the deferral of the loan decision on the wi-fi until the next meeting.

The reason being that the committee isn't clearly satisfied as to who the other two directors of Digital City are. The third being Rikki Hunt.

The main shareholder of Digital City is listed as aQovia Limited, based on the Isle of Man, instead of the aQovia UK Ltd, registered in the UK.

Again this mistake is being spun as 'minor', just a matter of forgetting to add on the 'UK' to paperwork.

Swindon Centric Says ; Are 'minor errors' acceptable when the large gamble of public money sits on the table? What hope for this venture when the people doing the admin can't even fill out the forms correctly?

Today's Wi-Fi Cliffhanger Is...

No sooner had the previous post gone up, then Swindon Centric read this on the Talk Swindon website.

Swindon Centric Says ; Some other revelations concerning everyone's favourite ropey business venture coming later it seems.

Stay tuned!

The Bluh Doctrine on Wi-Fi

The election kick-off has no-doubt had an effect on discussion about the wi-fi, but the comments today by Councillor Des Moffat, Labour Western Ward, (and those of Councillor Wright from yesterday) feel like they've been keeping most of their powder dry for a while.

In Councillor Moffat's account of the cabinet meeting, the politicising of the scheme was criticised again by Councillor Bluh. Despite the obvious politicising by the Conservatives and even by Digital City, who still have the following blurb on their website.

"We want to see a flowering of this all over the country." - Caroline Spelman, Shadow secretary of state for communities and local government.

It's reassuring that individual councillors are putting up accounts of cabinet meetings, since the minutes we should be able to rely on are misleading.

Councillor Bluh seems to have developed his very own Bush-style doctrine on the wi-fi, with the Conservative party South Swindon Prospective Parliamentary Candidate standing a fair distance from his comments.

Swindon Centric Says ; - You're either with us, or you're against us on the wi-fi - (to skew a quote) Mr Bluh seems to believe there is no middle-ground, which is ironic as that's exactly the part of the electorate he needs to attract if he is to win his seat again.

P.S. - Winning his seat, in Dorcan, just became slightly higher in profile after this. Oh, the irony in the competitor's name too.

Swindon's Community Money Thrown Into The Air For Wi-Fi

Councillor Bob Wright, Labour Central Ward, has given details about exactly where the £450,000 for the wi-fi came from.

According to his entry on the Swindon Labour website, it came from money meant for, 'wider community use" , and not for 'a single person or project'.

Swindon Centric Says ; 'The loan was authorised through a Town Centre regeneration approval note', writes Mr Wright, a highly questionable classification considering recent telecoms news that BT are to install a fibre-optic system for broadband in Swindon. The use of public money on 'regeneration' of telecoms, which is being industry led anyway, is highly questionable : much like the rest of the wi-fi process and project.

House of Cards Continues to Fall

Councillor Phil Young, the cabinet member for Culture, Regeneration & Economic Development is to step down from that position and that of councillor come the election in May.

Swindon Centric Says ; Any more resignations? Please take a ticket and get in the queue.

A Glimpse At Redevelopment Purgatory

Swindon Centric was loitering in town earlier and saw the gate to the former Thamesdown Transport depot on Corporation Street open and signs of activity with building supplies occupying some of the vast space.

I'd like to think that it's the beginning of the Union Square work, but it's probably being used as storage for work happening elsewhere, the repaving of Canal Walk perhaps? It's easy to forget how vast a space the Union Square development covers, the picture above shows how big just the old bus depot site is.

Swindon Centric Says ; I wonder if there are any tram rails left under the concrete, from when the site was the tram depot?

Mural Restoration - The Excellent Side Of Regeneration

The New Swindon Company may have been around since the town centre didn't quite look as bad as it does now, but not much has happened of note since then.

So Swindon Centric declares that the best part of anything in the town centre is the repainting of the Golden Lion Bridge Mural by it's creator, Ken White.

Swindon Centric Says ; You can tell this isn't a New Swindon Company project, because this one is actually going to happen.

Where else should we have a new generation of murals in Swindon? Ideas welcome.

Oh So Quiet... Granville Street Development On Hold

A day after the scheme for the residential tower at Regent Circus was shelved, due to the recession, another part of another area due for building has been announced to be going the same way, fast.

The Regent Place (not to be confused with the college site at Regent Circus) area of 'The Hub' area of the rebuilding of the town centre, on the Granville Street carpark, has been shelved for the moment as the retail sector readjusts during the recession.

An attempt at reassurance came out of Councillor Young that the 'Union Square' area (formerly called 'The Exchange' and located on the swathes of land between Fleming Way, the bus station and the railway station) is signed and sealed contract-wise.

Swindon Centric Says ; The New Swindon Company don't seem to be doing much to justify their existence, except renaming the development areas as a marketing team might do the same for a theme park.

Expecting a runaway mine money train to be put into the plans for Regent Place any day now, once the market picks up of course.

Every Little Helps, But Tesco Might Not Be At Regent Circus

Where Swindon Centric leads, others follow, with the Adver today publishing details about the Regent Circus back-and-forth discussions.

So the majority of the scheme is still alive, but the tower plan has been put on hold for the moment, maybe after the recession it'll rise with the green shoots. But the supermarket will either be Morrisons, Waitrose, Somerfield (soon to be the Co-op) or Tesco.

Swindon Centric Says ; As long as the cinema scheme is retained, then, after 5pm, the area won't go dead like most of the town centre at the moment.

Every Little Helps With Regent Circus Development

A short story on BBC Radio Wiltshire this morning suggested that contracts are on the verge of being signed for the supermarket that will be part of the Regent Circus development. This ties with this post at the end of last month about the redevelopment negotiations.

Coincidentally, an overheard conversation in the town centre today suggested that Tesco, currently hidden away underneath Debenhams, will relocate "further up town".

Swindon Centric Says ; Will it be Tesco that will sit on the former college site?

Bright Eyes Not So Bright For Some Cats

Things are getting desperate in the county if this story is anything to go by, from the mean (and slightly less reflective) streets of Broad Town. Sounds like a case for DI Maggie Forbes and the CATS team.

Swindon Centric Says ; Are there vast amounts of cash to be made from the flogging of cat's eyes to, either blind cats, or road construction companies? Lets check the market conditions of ebay...