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Scrutiny meeting all-clear for wi-fi

6:20am Tuesday 20th April 2010 in News By Charley Morgan

SWINDON’S Wi-Fi project jumped over the latest hurdle last night when the council’s scrutiny committee decided to approve the plans.

Councillors had raised concerns over the make-up of the company running the scheme and the details of the £450k loan being made to it by the council.

They asked officers to provide more information about one of the companies involved in the deal, which is registered to the Isle of Man.

But after being presented with the information by council officers before the weekend, they decided they were satisfied with the deal and ratified the cabinet’s decision to loan the money to pay for the scheme.

Leader of the council Rod Bluh said: “A paper has been presented to you which I think answers all the questions quite clearly and I’m entirely satisfied from what we have seen that nothing has fundamentally changed.

“The internal audit report made I quite clear that due process has been followed.”

Coun Bob Wright said: “This has never been about Wi-Fi, it’s about the decision-making and what was involved.

“Surely you should leave that to an external auditor to decide?”

Coun Bluh said: “There is this constant underlying suggestion that there is something not quite right and I am beginning to take exception to it.

“There is not one shred of evidence that has showed that the council is at fault.”

The Minister of Commerce on the Isle of Man would also be happy to provide a reference for the company, he added.

“I don’t know what else I can possibly do. I have absolutely nothing to hide about this deal and never have had.

“I am really proud of the opportunity for Swindon and disappointed that five months later we are still going through this.”

Councillors voted that they were satisfied with the information provided to them but added that they wanted regular progress reports from officers.

Comments(21)

tarot says...
7:16am Tue 20 Apr 10

Who scrutinizes the scrutinizers?

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SockPuppet says...
7:58am Tue 20 Apr 10

Still doesn't explain why this didn't go out for tender....

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real -life says...
7:59am Tue 20 Apr 10

So the Council srutinized the Council and gave them the all clear! Wow there's a surprise. Will it ever work and will people actually want it with all the other deals out there and BT upgrading their exchanges in the not too distant future? Incompetants checking up on more incompetants, does anyone actually trust this Council?

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Bobfm says...
8:37am Tue 20 Apr 10

Oh one last thing, is it working yet, does DC have the required commercial subscribers required.

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DarkAuror says...
9:43am Tue 20 Apr 10

Did Justin Tomlinson vote to approve the plans last night?

security word - "miss-hope"

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SockPuppet says...
10:05am Tue 20 Apr 10

Well as we are in a marginal the Tories would hate for there to be any dirt flying around over the next fortnight that may aid in knocking them further down the polls to join Labour.

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Captain Sensible says...
10:30am Tue 20 Apr 10

A dodgy company set up in the Isle of Man last year receives £450k of tax payers money to introduce a townwide 'WIFI' network. A councillor who was involved in the decionmaking to loan the money also a director of said company, only he clains he never knew he was even though he put info to that effect on his own website? Does anyone actually use this WIFI? Does anyone actually know if it is even up and running? Has anyone seen any advertising to local people that the service exists? I would have thought that they would have been leafletting households in Highworth, anybody seen anything? The answer to that, of course is no. Its a con, standby for the headlines that the money has 'disappeared' and cue photos of councillors wringing their hands quoting that 'lessons have been learnt'..

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tarot says...
11:02am Tue 20 Apr 10

Just get the fraud squad in.

Security words "burn-hall" bring it on.

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cash strapped ratepayer says...
11:59am Tue 20 Apr 10

And what about the somewhat suspect partners who are their new "best friends"
We haven't heard the last of this yet!When will the liquidators arrive?

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Synergie says...
12:04pm Tue 20 Apr 10

The Isle of Man. "one of the safest and most attractive worldwide tax havens.". You couldn't make it up!.

Justin Tomlinson: Would you kindly answer the question asked above. Do you approve of half a million pounds of Swindon taxpayers money going to a company who don't even want to pay tax to our exchequer ?. Your answer before May 6th please.

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politicrat says...
12:34pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Isle of Man, Tories, Money sounds about right to me.
I despise the Tories for abusing the tax system, they do it all the time, I hope Libdems will close the loopholes once and for all and make them pay!
If Mr Bluh do a deal, can this deal be with a UK tax based company!

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Bobfm says...
12:37pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Synergie, Justin believes it's good for his Abbey Meads constituents.

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snoopers says...
1:19pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Bobfm wrote:
Synergie, Justin believes it's good for his Abbey Meads constituents.
Thats about 300 people then. Money well spent?

What you mean to say Bob is that Justin has to support his council leader no matter what or jeopardize his chance of being MP.

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Bobfm says...
1:46pm Tue 20 Apr 10

No it was his personal view that it was good for Abbey Meads, I understand due to BT's c*ck-up in reactivation a sub station near Motorola to feed Abbey Meads meaning a run over 10 kilometres.

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getsonmypip says...
4:37pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Does anyone know how much Mr Hunt is paid every month out of this money? Are there any accounts, receipts / invoices to show how this money has been and is being spent seeing as its tax payers money?

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Old Town says...
5:20pm Tue 20 Apr 10

OK - shoot me down if you will....
.
Apart from not holding a referendum on whether this was a good investment of council funds, can someone actually tell me what SBC have done wrong on this ?
.
It seems to me that a lot of people on here are jumping on this, but IF (and of course it is a big if) this scheme takes off, and other authorities take it up, and the company makes a lot of money (a lot of which will come back into the council coffers) what is the problem ?
.
This is a genuine question as I have read all the remarkable comments above, but still cannot figure what wrong has been done ?

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I Too says...
5:21pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Corruption on corruption.

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getsonmypip says...
6:28pm Tue 20 Apr 10

Old Town wrote:
OK - shoot me down if you will.... . Apart from not holding a referendum on whether this was a good investment of council funds, can someone actually tell me what SBC have done wrong on this ? . It seems to me that a lot of people on here are jumping on this, but IF (and of course it is a big if) this scheme takes off, and other authorities take it up, and the company makes a lot of money (a lot of which will come back into the council coffers) what is the problem ? . This is a genuine question as I have read all the remarkable comments above, but still cannot figure what wrong has been done ?
You might want to log onto Talk Swindon and read the threads on this wi-fi scandal.

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who dat? says...
9:09pm Tue 20 Apr 10

So can anyone explain how a senior council official can claim that he knew nothing of becoming a director of what became Digital City when he signed the consent form which is in the public domain at Companies House???

Any one at Adver Towers fancy a bit of in-depth investigative journalism??

Go on , one of you youngsters must be up for it!!!!!!

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Grimwald says...
10:20am Wed 21 Apr 10

Goodbye to £450,000 of our money. and who is actually accountable for this gross misuse of public money?
Just remember two names both of whom are up for election this May - Councillors Rod Bluh Dorcan and Mark Edwards Stratton SM.
and when voting ask yourself if the money could have been better spent on Dial a Ride, and Enterprise Works.
Mind you these things are hardly as inovative as Wi-fi are they?
People of Dorcan and Stratton have never had a better chance to voice their opinions I hope you take it.

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I Too says...
6:34pm Wed 21 Apr 10

Grimwald wrote:
Goodbye to £450,000 of our money. and who is actually accountable for this gross misuse of public money? Just remember two names both of whom are up for election this May - Councillors Rod Bluh Dorcan and Mark Edwards Stratton SM. and when voting ask yourself if the money could have been better spent on Dial a Ride, and Enterprise Works. Mind you these things are hardly as inovative as Wi-fi are they? People of Dorcan and Stratton have never had a better chance to voice their opinions I hope you take it.
What about Robert Buckland?
He's the Conservative candidate for Swindon South.

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