This year, Swindon Borough Council’s Tory administration will pay £8.7m on debt management. That means that £6 from every £100 we pay in our council-taxes each year goes on managing the Council’s debt, which is the same as what goes on maintaining our towns roads and footpaths.
This is the legacy of this Tory administration. A legacy of debt, waste and failure – and staggering arrogance when questions are asked, be it by the opposition Labour Group or the public.
An ill-conceived and cynical Tory motion – designed to confuse the record of the previous Labour administration a decade ago – was withdrawn after it's undemocratic attempt to control opposition and politicise officers was exposed by Labour councillors, and the Tory leader verbally attacked a resident in the public gallery.
The Conservative motion, which argued that they didn’t inherit a surplus from Labour when they took control of Swindon Council, was merely a desperate attempt to stifle debate over the Tory administration’s startling incompetence in managing Council finances.
Sadly for the Conservative administration, the facts charting the council’s decline from surplus to debt are quite simple.
On March 21st, 2004 the council had a treasury surplus of £6.7m. This was noted in the March 2005 cabinet papers – available to the public on this link: https://ww5.swindon.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=3073
Fast forward through 9 years of Tory waste and failure and we have a £92m external debt. Where has this come from?
Ludicrous pet projects. £360k to purchase tabernacle stones in 2006 that have yet to be used (losing tens of thousands of pounds of interest compared to if we’d kept the money). A £240k water fountain in the town centre – more commonly used as a urinal on a Saturday night. A failed Wi-Fi project costing the tax payer £400k.
The list goes on.
This year, Swindon Borough Council’s Tory administration will pay £8.7m on debt management. That means that £6 from every £100 we pay in our council-taxes each year goes on managing the Council’s debt, which is the same as what goes on maintaining our towns roads and footpaths.
This is the legacy of this Tory administration. A legacy of debt, waste and failure – and staggering arrogance when questions are asked, be it by the opposition Labour Group or the public.