Tag: Wifi

The Conservative administration on Swindon Borough Council continues to endorse the wireless broadband network planned for North Swindon. They do this despite the repeated calls from residents and Labour Councillors to stop the deployment and Councillors of all political colours rejecting planning permission for the masts required to rollout their version of superfast broadband. Residents, Labour Councillors and some Conservative Councillors have also argued that as both BT and Virgin Media have publicly stated their plans to extend network coverage…

The Cabinet have failed to learn from the mistakes made in the past where an alternative broadband provider to BT have been contracted to roll out broadband infrastructure and then residents get left with no choice over their internet provider is ultimately leading to higher cost internet. The Swindon Labour Group, led by Councillor Jim Grant, is opposing the Superfast Broadband roll-out which has been proposed by Swindon Council’s Conservative Cabinet. The Labour Group will be moving a motion calling…

I refer to the Leader of Swindon Council’s recent column in your newspaper. I congratulate him in writing such a provocative piece, however the principles for which Councillor Renard espoused were far from the reality by which his and previous Conservative Leaders have practiced at Swindon Borough Council. I refer to the Leader of Swindon Council’s recent column in your newspaper. I congratulate him in writing such a provocative piece, however the principles for which Councillor Renard espoused were far…

I was interested to read your column in the Swindon Advertiser (16 October), where you outline plans to bring faster broadband to Swindon. First class communication links are vital if Swindon is to recover from the recession, particularly as the economy has only just started growing very slowly after three years of flatling, and I welcome this belated move by the local council. Open letter to Robert Buckland MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA 17 October 2013 Dear Mr…

Swindon Borough Council is spending £1m extra on debt charges in 2013/14 than it was in 2012/13. In 2012/13, Swindon Borough Council budgeted £8.7m on debt management which was used to meet the Councils borrowing costs. However Swindon Conservative-controlled Council has budgeted £9.7m on debt management for 2013/14.   Swindon Borough Council is spending £1m extra on debt charges in 2013/14 than it was in 2012/13. In 2012/13, Swindon Borough Council budgeted £8.7m on debt management which was used to…

As if losing £400,000 of council tax payers money were not bad enough we will all be picking up a further £4,000 bill for preparing the long overdue Digital City accounts. After much prevarication we have also been told that Rikki Hunt received £80,000 for consultancy services to the council! Shaw Tory councillor Gary Perkins has been the council’s nominated director on Digital City during this fiasco while your other two Tory councillors are in the Cabinet. PLEASE USE YOUR…

What this information reveals is that while the Wi-Fi project and the £400K council-taxpayers loan were agreed, along with the subsequent public scrutiny of the project, Rikki Hunt was being paid by Swindon borough Council. This information came not from an admittance of this administration; but instead was forced from this administration through a direct public question from Chris Watts, the Labour Party Candidate for Eastcott in the forthcoming elections. There are many, many questions that spring up as a…

At the end of this week the Leader of the Swindon Labour Group called on Swindon Council’s Leader and Deputy Leader to resign over their involvement in the Wi-Fi project.  In this exclusive blog the Swindon Labour Group Leader explains why he took this decision. On Friday’s BBC Radio Swindon Drive Time programme I called on both Swindon borough Council’s Leader and Deputy Leader to resign from their Cabinet positions due to their involvement over Wi-Fi. Although there have been…

When eventually the dust settles on the Wi-fiasco the simple lesson we may learn is ‘do not make decisions in isolation’. We learnt at the Scrutiny meeting April 8th that Rod Bluh did not take the Wi-fi project to Cabinet because he could not trust his cabinet colleagues. These are the people he hand picked and appointed to look after your interests. What message does that send? He was concerned that Cabinet Members may leak details to others. Leaks are…

If any cynicism exists surrounding the unusual loaning of public money to the Wi-fi project the Conservative Administration should not be surprised.  At Thursday April 31st Cabinet Meeting the Conservative Chairman Rod Bluh admitted the Wi-fi project was a Political decision.  Also in spite of having months to invite the local Labour MPs to the Wi-fi launch the Conservatives pushed forward the Shadow Minister Caroline Spellman.  The excuse given for this blatant political behaviour was that Ministers had been visiting…