COUN Renard, the leader of the Conservative administration, is fond of telling your readers how the role of the council has changed.
In particular he positively relishes pointing out it no longer wishes to do the ‘simple stuff’ such as street cleaning, providing libraries, cutting grass and emptying dustbins.
His grandiose picture of a future local council is something akin to a Commissioner of Services where the head panjandrum delights in handing out money to groups and organisations, which are then charged with service provision.
In the appointment of the new chief executive, who, I might add, is the sensible choice as he has vast experience of the two areas on which the bulk of the council budget is spent, we can see the direction being taken.
However, I do believe Coun Renard has displayed a level of cowardice in the face of the enemy by choosing to raise council tax by 1.99 per cent plus the two per cent to cover increased social care costs. 
Of course if he applies the two per cent first then the 1.99 per cent might just as well have been two per cent.
Coun Renard and his cabinet colleagues have chosen 1.99 per cent because to have gone over two per cent would have required them to hold a referendum – that is to ask the people of Swindon to endorse their budget. To do that might have resulted in the public rejecting their plans, which would have left them with a ‘bloody nose’ and worse.  
In the belief that they are right and we can’t be trusted to give the right answer, politicians refuse to submit their grand schemes to the electorate for approval and thus it has proved with this council. 
If Coun Renard truly believed helping the poor, vulnerable, aged and young was the essential priority for his administration, and such support needed an additional £50 a household a year, he should have the courage of his conviction, apply the percentage increase, make the case, enter the debate and submit to a referendum.
He can’t simply bask in the pious and pompous aura of the self-appointed maker of ‘tough decisions’ especially when he wants to use the mechanism of parishing to do his dirty work. 
DES MORGAN
Caraway Drive, Swindon