Swindon Borough Councillor attendance rates 2010

After a couple of years of improvement, attendance rates of councillors at Swindon Borough Council meetings stagnated in 2010. On average, across all councillors the attendance rate was 84%, which is not a significant change from 2009 when the rate was 85%.

In terms of attendance rates, the top 5 councillors of 2010 were:

• Mr Heenan: 35 meetings out of 35 – 100%
• Mr Montaut: 28 meetings out of 28 – 100%
• Mr Tomlinson: 11 meetings out of 11 – 100%
• Mr Parry: 45 meetings out of 46 – 98%
• Mr Wright: 32 meetings out of 33 – 97%

Another 16 councillors attended over 90% of the meetings they were recorded against, a decrease from 22 who were in that position in 2009. Three councillors attended over 50 meetings during the year, including two of those with attendance rates above 90%.

The councillors with the worst attendance rates (60% or less) in 2010 were:

• Mr Wiltshire: 16 meetings out of 27 – 59%
• Ms Heenan: 14 meetings out of 24 – 58%
• Mr Smith: 10 meetings out of 20 – 50%
• Mr Cherry: 3 meetings out of 7 – 43%
• Mr Dobie: 5 meetings out of 12 – 42%
• Mr Fanning: 5 meetings out of 14 – 36%
• Mr Sammels: 1 meeting out of 5 – 20%

Of those, three ceased to be councillors last May, whilst Mr Dobie, Mr Smith and Mr Wiltshire are saving themselves from having to explain their poor attendance by not seeking re-election at the elections later this week — consistent poor attendance since they were last elected in the cases of Mr Dobie and Mr Wiltshire. That leaves Ms Heenan, elected only in May 2010, who clearly has a lot to learn about attendance at council meetings from her son Mr Heenan. Compared with 2009, although the number of councillors not attending many of their meetings is little changed, for those councillors in this group their individual attendance rates have got far worse.

The figures are derived by taking an entry in a meeting attendance page of ‘Present’ or ‘In attendance’ as meaning the councillor was there, and any other entry as meaning that they should have been there but weren’t. Full details of all Swindon Borough Councillors’ 2010 meeting attendance rates are available in the archive.

Hungover — the evening after the election night before

Having succumbed to the need for sleep just half an hour before the first Swindon election result came through, it was refreshing to wake up to blue parliamentary representation, but a disappointment that in the local council elections the administration had not been punished for the way it has frivolously wasted our money on vanity projects whilst having to makes cuts to other more important services, such as street cleaning. The local election results are, of course, not typical. In an average year turnout is never much more than 30%. Being at the same time as a general election bolstered that to over 60%. Despite that, the overall outcome, in terms of candidates elected, was almost unchanged from the last time these candidates stood.

From the Swindon general election results, it was apparent that local presence helped: Mr Tomlinson converted a notional red majority of 2,675 into one for him of 7,060 — a swing of over 10% — whereas Mr Buckland managed only a majority of 3,544 where before Ms Snelgrove had a notional majority of only 1,493 — a swing of ‘only’ 5.5%.

Our new MPs now need to prove themselves and their commitment to put constituents before party. Some of us have unfinished business with Swindon Borough Council for which their support is expected.

Positively negative

Whilst he’s not the first ever politician to suffer from this ailment, it’s disappointing that Mr Buckland — who claims not to be a career politician — in his latest leaflet struggles to distinguish positive campaigning from the negative.

Other parties in this campaign have spent a lot of time knocking their opponents. I am not interested in that. Our campaign has been positive and is all about what we want to achieve for our future.

So just what is positive about implying that the current incumbent in South Swindon is ‘tainted’?

I represent a fresh start for South Swindon, untainted by the discredited politics of the recent past.

I’m also sure that he’s well aware of Ms Snelgrove’s reputation for being the government’s representative in South Swindon when he makes a final plea.

Please give me the chance to serve as your new MP, who will be your representative at Westminster, not Westminster’s representative in South Swindon.

Mr Buckland may not yet be a career politician, but he’s clearly more than content to use the ‘skills’ from his barrister career to practice the politicians’ black art of spin.

Mixing things up: local elections round 6

I’ve been rather inundated by election leaflets today. One came this evening from Mr Buckland, claiming that he called, though it clearly wasn’t him — he was doing t’other side of the street. This morning it was the turn of the reds, one leaflet for Ms Snelgrove making many claims for how she’d like to spend our money, but nothing about how to bring down the crippling government debt her party has left us with; and another leaflet for Mr Wright.

I’m not sure whose campaign Mr Wright is fighting, his own or Ms Snelgrove. Almost half of the text is devoted to what Mr Cameron would do in government — a vote for Mr Wright could have no effect on that. And surely if, as Mr Wright believes, the blue-run Swindon Borough Council has wasted our money, surely we should delighted if, as Mr Wright believes, Mr Cameron is proposing they should have less of our money to waste?

I like my local politicians to stick to local issues, and a councillor such as Mr Wright advising me on who to vote for in a general election is no more welcome than the pointless yah-boo motions criticising national government pushed through Swindon Borough Council by the local blues.

Changed opinions: local elections 2010 round 5

Today I received my first ever election leaflet from Mr Leakey and it’s amazing how electoral necessity can change opinions. Only a few months ago his comments on the refurbishment of the old GWR Barracks were mildly scathing.

[W]ho ever designed and agreed to the new entrance and stone work, must have suffered a momentary loss of their senses, for they most certainly bypassed any thoughts of preserving the historical character and appearance of the building…. Would it not have been beyond the capabilities of someone to have designed an entrance sympathetic to the fabric of the building and made it of wood and glass?

However, now his leaflet describes the building as “wonderfully restored”.

I also note that the leaflet claims that a blue council will “Improve street cleaning & graffiti removal” Seeing as the said party in Swindon Borough Council have only recently pushed through a budget that removes one of the thrice daily street cleaning rounds in the town centre, it’ll be more a case of undoing their own damage.

But the overwhelming impression of this leaflet was that the Mr Leakey-specific parts — the three paragraphs on the outer page and the captions beneath his photographs — bear no resemblance to the actions locally of the party he purports to represent.

Rent-a-mob at the Wyvern

You would think that Ms Tomlinson would have sufficient confidence in her son Mr Tomlinson — well known for his assured media performances — not to heckle his opponents during a public debate. You’d think that the likes of Ms Tomlinson and Ms Foley would recognise Mr Tomlinson’s ability to defend his own record against an unjustified attack by the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, on scrutinising Mr Bluh’s wifi deal and not feel the need to indulge in a slow hand clap of his opponent. You’d be wrong.

At last night’s question time event at the Wyvern Theatre chaired by the Adver’s Mr King, the lesser lights of the blue nest were on their most puerile and infantile behaviour. Mr King may not have been the best chairman in the world — allowing the candidates to make speeches in place of answers and allowing Ms Snelgrove to waffle on for as long as all the others put together — but the blue rent-a-mob heckling from the back were doing their candidate no favours. The public were there to hear a debate, not to have one side of it drowned out.

And what did we learn from that debate? Aside from the rowdiness of the blues and the willingness of Mr King to allow many questions from the reds own party members, very little. Both Mr Tomlinson and Ms Snelgrove were well practiced, well briefed public performers — no surprise there. Mr Hooton and Mr Hughes were less confident but reasonably well informed, though Mr Hooton claims to disagree with rather a lot of his party’s own policies. The other two candidates that were on show last night seemed to know neither their own policies nor Swindon very well. I now know that all six candidates can read from a pre-prepared script; I also know that two can do little else. In short, I have a better idea of who I definitely won’t vote for, but nothing to convince me that one of the others should get my vote.

The campaign trail less travelled: local elections 2010 round 4½

With less than three weeks to go until the local elections on 6 May, campaigning by the candidates in Central ward is distinctly lacking. Even the local blue nest website carries a paltry amount of information on their candidates. So far only Mr Wright of Western ward has been leafleting. Of the known local (i.e. resident in Central ward) candidates, official information on Mr Leakey is limited — Ms Leakey has told us more — and neither Mr Evans nor Mr Cox have yet had anything to say — though you can still read Mr Evans’ views from three yeas ago.

Of the other less local candidates, Mr Chadfield of Eastcott Ward has said nothing. Ms Spencer, also of Eastcott Ward, has been presented rather more eloquently, but nevertheless is largely uninformative.

So of those that have expressed an opinion, what do we know of their future intentions. Mr Leakey wants more investment.

If elected, Kevin’s priority will be to improve investment in the residential areas of Central Swindon. He wants to offer people a fresh start, as a new Councillor who lives and works in the Town Centre and actually cares about it.

So, apparently, does Ms Spencer, as well as changes to residents’ parking.

Kathryn wants to be involved with the proposed regeneration of the town centre and working with local business as investment will have tangible benefits for those in Swindon Central. Kathryn also puts reform of the failed residents parking scheme at the top of her agenda.

And Mr Wright, well he has rather a long list.

Resident priorities I am working on include: Return Residents Parking back to residents control; Protect Urban spaces and gardens; Reduce Centrals Residential roads down to 20MPH; Ensure local accountability and fair charging for council services; Press for more Central School places for Central children; Work for a sustainable solution for the Mechanics Institute; Correct the Tories mistakes on Street Cleaning and Waste.

All worthy stuff. It’s just rather a shame that all bar one haven’t made much effort yet to tell us more.

Looking both ways

Today Mr Wakefield has been reported as supporting the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove.

Anne asked me to come along today, not to endorse her in the traditional way, but in recognition of the fact that Anne as been a very good constituency MP for Swindon.

But he’s also been reported as helping her opponent Mr Buckland with canvassing.

Thanks to Steve Wakefield for giving me a hand with canvassing today.

Even though he somewhat disputes that, it’s refreshing to see Mr Wakefield taking such an independent, non-partisan approach. Whether Ms Snelgrove will find the ambivalence of one of the two star exhibits at her campaign launch so refreshing is another matter.

One thing puzzles komadori in Ms Snelgrove’s plea for re-election.

We moved to Swindon in 2004 and my husband Mike and I live in the centre of town. Mike teaches English at Cirencester Sixth Form College and has taught many Swindon students.

Information komadori has from late that year suggests an address west of Stroud in Gloucestershire, rather than central Swindon.

Wrong for Central? local elections 2010 round 4

This year’s election in Swindon’s Central ward has one unusual feature for recent years: a councillor seeking re-election. Recent turncoat councillors have done a runner from Central when the time has come to seek another term. Today I have thus received the novelty of a leaflet from a councillor not only seeking re-election based on their track record as a councillor for Central ward, but also still in the same party for which they were last elected. Unfortunately for Mr Wright he’s little of note to shout about.

In addition to striking a traditional politician pose, pointing at something he’s done nothing about (a pothole in this instance), Mr Wright lists several things he claims to have either helped, opposed or campaigned for. But not just him, oh no.

Over the past 4 years I have worked closely with Anne Snelgrove and my colleagues on the council in delivering for the residents of Central.

Mr Wright may well have fought for Central — tho’ there’s little evidence of him putting up much of a fight; half of what he lists were failures — but the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, certainly has not and her recent interest in wifi doesn’t make up for four years of non-interest.

If Mr Wright has done all that he claims, the results of his efforts are all but invisible. He’s had some success in stopping things; he’s been far less noticeable when it comes to getting things done.

Secret manifesto: local elections 2010 round 3

I’d like to read the local red nest manifesto, which they launched today. However, in a wonderful bit of poor planning, their old website, www.swindonlabour.co.uk, had been taken offline, whilst their new website, www.swindon-labour.co.uk was, until ½ hour ago password protected. Even though the website is now accessible, the manifesto isn’t obvious as such. Even the ‘featured story’ about its launch doesn’t provide a link. It’s sort of there, as a series of stories, but not as a single document, and not clearly labelled as their manifesto. Seeing as the manifesto was completed by 18th February — going by the dates on the website — they’re not very quick out of the starting blocks. I’d also subscribe to the newsfeed from their website, but the most obvious link provided doesn’t work either.

If you want to see the Swindon Labour manifesto in the form it will be distributed, for the moment the only place to do so is on TalkSwindon.

Like a tory council: local elections 2010 round 2

If I were Mr Tomlinson or Mr Buckland I’d be worried. Not because of how their party’s lead has diminished in recent national opinion polls. Nor because of particular campaigning successes of their opponents, Mr Agarwal and the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, respectively. No, what would worry me would be the antics of the leadership of Swindon Borough Council. Mr Bluh through his arrogance and extravagant splurging of local taxpayers’ money on vanity projects, is giving the opponents of his party’s candidates in the national elections an easy target.

The leaflet dropped through my letterbox today by Mr Wright in the company of Mr Montaut is devious in its attempt to confuse national politics with local politics. Thus it compares recent expenditure by the blue nest controlled council with alleged ‘investment’ by national government — bragging about money spent by Mr Brown’s government without mentioning the record-breaking debt they’ve run-up is like praising a bullion robber for their money laundering skills. But all that is a side issue in comparison with the simple messages of Mr Bluh’s vanity projects — wifi, tabernacle stones, the Radio 1 Big Weekend — and a simple claim.

David Cameron has already said he would run the country like a Tory council – don’t give him the chance.

I can’t find the source of that claim. And if Mr Cameron were to run the country like most Conservative councils, I wouldn’t mind. But Swindon Borough Council isn’t like other Conservative councils — it’s one with a legacy of Mr Bluh’s failed vanity projects.

Monday night at the playpen

On Monday night, for the first time, I went to observe a meeting of Swindon Borough Council. This was the budget setting full council meeting. Even allowing for the poor reputation of politicians, one might expect that for an important issue like this the debate would be serious and behaviour respectable. Instead, there was a display of infantile posturing and bad temper.

The meeting started with a minute’s silence to mark the death of Ms Fowles, chief executive of the local NHS who died of cancer at the weekend. In tribute, Mr Bluh suggested that councillors should try and have a reasoned debate. It was advice that few — including Mr Bluh and his own cabinet — chose to follow.

During the first item on the agenda — confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting — Mr Perkins delivered the first of many ranting political lectures. Indeed, one of the three consistent features of the evening — the others being the number 21 bus and Mr Bluh’s now infamous smug arrogance — was Mr Perkins’ aggressive contempt for all those he disagreed with.

Next up were questions from the public. In response to one question Mr Young admitted that the £2M benefits to the local economy claimed for the Radio 1 Big Weekend were ‘partly speculative’. In response to another question, Mr Bluh claimed that ‘due process was followed’ when investing almost £½M in Digital City (UK) Ltd. He also said

As far as I am aware there is no Audit Commission investigation.

Awareness may not be one of Mr Bluh’s strong points.

Next were general questions from the councillors, during which Mr Wright got very hot and bothered over the matter of naming streets and announced he was referring the matter to the borough solicitor. The names of streets seemed to worry Mr Wright more than how the council spends our money.

After ¾ hour it was on to the main item for the evening: the council budget. According to Mr Edwards his budget was ‘brilliant’. Naturally, Mr Montaut disagreed and proposed an amended budget, for the same cost but different services. Much knockabout political squabbling then followed, with Mr Perkins and Ms Foley in rather a lot of words accusing the opposition of being stupid and Mr Bluh taking the ‘nice try but should have done better; much better’ approach, and the red nest trying to make up for lack of numbers by shouting all their speeches.

Most bizarre moments of the evening for me were Mr Bawden making a speech opposing a budget needing a higher council tax, even though that wasn’t what the opposition had proposed, and Mr Ali delivering a political speech that made almost no mention of budget plans but wouldn’t have been out of place in a general election hustings for his candidature in Devizes.

However, perhaps the most telling point was when Mr Wright observed that an essential element of civic pride is ensuring that basic things, like keeping the streets clean, are done and done well. To this Mr Bluh responded

The Tabernacle stones and canal are about the bigger picture and Swindon moving forward.

For Mr Bluh running a council during a financial crisis is clearly more about vain legacy projects than serving the basic needs of Swindon.

Bawden turns legal on fellow Tory councillor

In a tempestuous full meeting of Swindon Borough Council — a meeting still in progress — it was revealed by Mr Small and then confirmed by Mr Bawden that Mr Bawden is seeing a solicitor tomorrow in respect of what he regards as inappropriate behaviour towards him by one of his fellow Conservative councillors. Clearly, the blue nest on Swindon Borough Council is not a happy one.

Lobbying

Is there an election coming? I ask because Mr Bluh — even though he comments similarly himself — is behaving as though there isn’t. Mr Montaut and Mr Wills have both expressed concern over the amount of money being spent by Swindon Borough Council on Westminster lobbyists: £129,400 over 18 months.

In a time of economic hardship, where council employees are experiencing real-terms pay cuts and day centres for the elderly are being shut down, Swindon can ill afford to pay for luxuries like a lobbying contract in London, when there are perfectly acceptable, cheaper alternatives to getting central Government funding – like using Swindon’s two MPs.

Now, leaving aside the distinct failure of said two MPs to do anything of use for Swindon in Westminster — Ms Snelgrove isn’t known as the government’s representative in South Swindon for nothing — and that it may well turn out to be money well spent, the council’s finances are in a dire state and every penny spent should be thoroughly justified.

Alas, it seems that Mr Bluh doesn’t believe in justifying how he spends our money.

This attack is the last gasp from two failed Members of Parliament who have not delivered for local people. Their comments are designed purely for the forthcoming election and have nothing to do with the future of the borough.

I’m sure Messrs Montaut and Wills made their comments with the elections in mind. That doesn’t mean they’re not legitimate concerns. And more importantly, concerns that the electorate of Swindon might wish to have answered.

With the council short of money, yet having spent almost £½M on the Radio 1 Big Weekend and almost another £½M on wifi, Mr Bluh needs to try far harder and actually justify the money his council administration takes from us, rather than just responding with arrogance and contempt.

If he doesn’t, the electorate may decide that Mr Bluh too will have nothing to do with the future of the borough.

Disappointed

Mr Hunt — talking about the wireless internet service being built by his company with a loan of almost £½M from the people of Swindon via Swindon Borough Council — says he’s

very very disappointing that it’s been politicised.

I too am disappointed. The attempt by Mr Wills to compare concerns over the wifi deal with the traditional and long-running political squabble about how much of our money Swindon receives from central government is blatant politicisation.

For years, Swindon borough councillors have misled residents about government funding but there is growing evidence that this forms part of a pattern…. I believe there is evidence of systemic secrecy in Swindon Borough Council about money and this represents a failure of governance. I call now on Swindon Borough Council to reveal the truth about Oakhurst School and the wi-fi scheme and do the survey on bus travel residents want.

The links between that little lot are tenuous to say the least.

However, if Mr Hunt is so concerned about politicisation, then why did he choose to be pictured at the launch of the wifi service in Highworth, alongside an all-blue line-up of Mr Bluh and parliamentary shadow cabinet member Ms Spelman? If Mr Hunt doesn’t like politicisation, he shouldn’t make such a habit of appearing with politicians.

For myself and seemingly for others, this is not a party political matter: it’s about whether due process was followed when spending local taxpayers’ money. The pursuit of the truth behind how and when the decision to spend almost £½M of local taxpayers’ money on this particular company would be just as determined, regardless of the party of the politicians involved.

A legacy of own goals: local elections 2010 round 1

It’s rare that I find myself in agreement, — even just partial agreement — with my local red nest councillors. But with the first election leaflet of the year to drop through my letterbox, they seem to have picked a topic which I suspect many in Central ward will see more than just a hint of truth amongst the political exaggeration.

First, they comment on residents’ parking permits. This is almost unadulterated political spin.

Residents parking is their second biggest revenue stream after Council tax. Every time they put up parking charges at car parks in town, drivers try to avoid the increased costs by parking in Central’s residential areas.

They’ve obviously forgotten that in the run-up to Christmas, charges for parking in town centre car parks were dropped.

If you think we are being unfair then question why the Tories closed the Northern Park and Ride, adding an estimated 250 week day cars looking for parking spaces in Central.

Perhaps because the economic disaster that the Labour government has presided over has reduced the number working in Central Swindon by far more than that.

The Tory Council have forgotten that this scheme is for you and your parking needs and not as their income generator.

Agreed, but the price of residents’ parking permits has nothing to do with visitor car parking charges.

So far, so much traditional party political drivel. But then they come to a topic where the current blue nest leadership are contentedly kicking own goals as fast as they can.

This Tory administration is more obsessed with itself and creating a legacy, than representing the people of the Borough… this Administration has an attitude of “it’s my way, or no way”…. They were planning to cut £50,000 from the Dial-a-Ride service at the same time they have shown misjudgment (sic) with priorities by the way they have gone about loaning £450,000 of Tax payers money to the Wi-Fi venture.

It seems the only legacy the local blue nest leadership have created is a massive stockpile of ammunition for their political opponents… and a bill for something many in Swindon will neither want nor need.

The slash and burn approach to council budgeting

I don’t wish to appear churlish about Swindon Borough Council achieving a low council tax increase for the coming year but… if they can achieve an increase of just 1.8% following a year when the council’s other revenues (such as planning application fees) have collapsed, just why haven’t they achieved it before? Or perhaps it would be more pertinent to ask why they haven’t felt it appropriate to achieve such a small increase before. In principle, it should have been possible for them to achieve this level of increase in previous years putting far less strain on service provision, as the council’s finances were in a better state.

To go for broke — possibly literally — this year looks like little more than reckless pre general election posturing rather than carefully thought out financial planning.

Spatial squabbling

Both the blue and red nests seem to be keen to blame t’other side for proposals to build 3000 houses to the west of Swindon. The government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, would have us believe that it’s all the fault of the blues.

Under current proposals Tory run Wiltshire County Council plan to build 3,000 new homes neighbouring West Swindon…. The Regional Spatial Strategy that sets out housing numbers for each local authority area was drafted by the Tory controlled Regional Assembly (now known as the South West Leaders Council).

Naturally, her opponent lays the blame on the reds.

Yesterday, Labour bizarrely criticised the Conservatives for the Regional Spatial Strategy, which has led to plans for 3,000 houses next to West Swindon. But only four months ago, Labour’s South Swindon MP strongly supported the RSS, saying, “it lays out important manageable growth figures for Swindon”.

As is so often the case in politics, all are suffering from selective memory loss.

The Regional Spatial Strategy is a consequence of the planning legislation introduced by the current government (red). The housing targets in it were set by the government (red). The strategy itself was produced by the South West Regional Assembly, now known as South West Councils (both blue). This is a document that seems to aim to solve the housing problems of rural Devon and Cornwall by building in the corner of the region that is furthest from those two counties — 34,000 houses were to be built in Swindon. Not satisfied with this distortion, the government (red) added another 2000 houses to Swindon’s allocation plus another 1000 in North Wiltshire in ‘urban extensions’ to Swindon.

Where to put those 37,000 houses? The Regional Spatial Strategy identified a large area to the east of Swindon, the Eastern Development Area. Swindon Borough Council (blue) in the first draft of their Core Strategy identified a number of other ‘areas of search’ where there could be significant development. One was at Tadpole lane. It also suggested where the urban extensions in North Wiltshire added by the government should be: near Ridgeway Farm and Moredon Bridge. Neighbouring North Wiltshire District Council (varying hues) objected to Swindon making plans beyond its border.

Now Wiltshire Council (blue, successor to North Wiltshire District and Wiltshire County Councils) is consulting on its own Core Strategy. It allocates land near Swindon’s western border for 3000 houses. In doing so it follows where the Government’s development strategy, the South West Regional Spatial Strategy and Swindon Core Strategy have lead.

With that provenance, neither main party is innocent in the conversion of Swindon into a suburban sprawl.

Building debt

Sometimes the government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, is so keen to slag off the blue nest controlled council that she ignores what she’s quoting her own ministers as saying. Take, for instance, today’s announcement that the government’s adding another £122.6M to the national debt to fund the building of more council houses. Ms Snelgrove would have us believe that the council needs to do more.

The Council’s housing waiting list is now over 10,000 which is completely unacceptable and they need to start matching the Government’s support to tackle this problem.

Err… matching the ‘Government’ support (i.e. taxpayer support) is a condition of the scheme, and as the council had to bid to government for the money, is something they’ve already committed to.

John Healey announced 73 councils covering every region of England will share an extra £122.6 million. Councils will match the Government’s grant, bringing total public investment in the programme to over £500m to build more than 4,000 new council homes

Oddly although Ms Snelgrove included that in her press release, she chose to ignore Mr Healey’s compliment to the winning councils.

Councils have shown they’re ready and willing to build new homes, so I’m ready to back them.

The government’s representative in South Swindon, Ms Snelgrove, is always quick to criticise the council when their bids to government are unsuccessful. In contrast, when the council is successful… she’s still full of criticism. I’m not daft enough to expect politicians to present an unbiased view; I do expect them to keep their political point scoring consistent with the facts.

Over confident

The local red nest have chosen a candidate to replace Mr Wills — if the electorate are willing, that is. So, for what does Mr Agarwal stand?

As a county councillor for Stanwell & Stanwell Moor in Surrey — of which he has been a lifelong resident —, Mr Agarwal, the self-styled Stanwell’s Voice, has expressed opinions on some topics that will be familiar to people in Swindon. He is, for example, a fan of council-supported wi-fi, unlike his Swindon colleagues.

I am currently working with Council Officers to see if it is possible that Stanwell & Stanwell Moor could have wi-fi access…. As Stanwell residents we could all work where we want to, when we want to, in the park, in the pub, in the garden…. The only city which has already done this is Seattle in America where residents have seen an enhancement to the quality of life.

Not surprisingly, he’s also no fan of blue nest dominated councils.

When you become a one-party local authority, things can get pushed through ‘on the nod’.

Rather like decisions on wifi provision? He supports the government’s national identity card scheme, which will win him no favours with Swindon’s No2ID campaigners.

He is also, apparently, committed to serving his local community in Stanwell and the Moor…

As someone brought up in Stanwell since infancy I am committed to serving my community and fellow residents.

Though obviously not quite as committed as he once was.

Some, such as Mr Montaut are taking the will of the people of North Swindon for granted.

This is a Labour town, and this is our seat.

Just what parts of ‘marginal constituency’ and ‘Conservative controlled council’ has Mr Montaut not understood? Mr Agarwal has managed to survive as Surrey’s only Labour county councillor by placing great emphasis on his long-term residence in the area. He can’t do that here; his main opponent can.