Financial disasters

With Jane Milner-Barry calling out Swindon’s ruling elite over the Kimmeridge saga and on the same day a probing letter from Jim Grant to the Adver about the shiny new snowdome proposal, this may just be party political pot boiling by the opposition, spotlighting the somewhat dubious recent reputation of Swindon Borough Council for financial good governance.

However if Jim Grant’s claim has some substance, it raises a more serious issue.

Whilst the Conservatives nationally claim to be the party of sound finance, no one of even barely of sound mind could ascribe these qualities to the local lot. It’s not worth rehearsing again the There is a catalogue of economic woes from the ill thought through Capita deal to the repeated ill thought through broadband initiatives.

If in desperation they have indeed left the door open for unlimited housing on the snowdome site as is claimed, this could be the pinnacle of irresponsibility. It almost takes one back to the days of ludicrous claims by one of the Lay brothers and some geriatric from Purton that they were going to reintroduce railway engine manufacturing on the works site if only they, backed of course quietly by a major house builder and developer, in this case Tarmac, could obtain the land and buildings for a song. It was a rather cruel trick to play on honest railwaymen who were taken in by the scheme… at least for a short time. Let’s just hope that burst of hot air, back in the day, is not history being repeated.

Perhaps some proper Advertiser investigative journalism is in order? Why not? What are the details? Is Jim Grant correct? Should we be concerned? And Please don’t get fobbed off with the old “commercial confidentiality” chestnut. Negotiations may well be confidential whilst they’re ongoing but a signed deal and its terms belongs to the people of Swindon. We are entitled to scrutinise how SBC treats assets bought in our name and paid for by borrowings, we or our children, will be required to repay. Swindon people have a right to know. The good Dale Heenan has been casting around for issues for his new committee to scrutinise. Dale, you could perhaps usefully ‘scrutinise’ this.

I truly do hope these accusations are false and I wish the project nothing but success... however I’m afraid the clever London property developers, backed up by forceful and ambitious agents such as Kennington’s, I’m afraid they’re are all proving a bit too much, for dear old Gary Perkins and his mates …. as has been amply demonstrated by a town centre market site leased to accommodate four restaurants which overnight morphs into an 11 storey block of 50 or so apartments. Seemingly the borough council, who own the land and negotiated the lease, can do nothing at all to prevent.

Rings and running around spring to mind … JOHN STOOKE Haydon End Havisham Drive Swindon

Stop pavement parking

It is good to see Swindon’s two MPs have given their backing to the Guide Dogs UK campaign to make pavement parking an offence (Put an end to parking peril, SA July 17).

Most of us never consider how difficult it must be for a blind or partially sighted person to negotiate their way around vehicles which park on and obstruct footpath access. This inconsiderate practice can be dangerous in any location but is more so on busy main roads where pedestrians are forced to pass offending vehicles via the road.

South Swindon’s MP Robert Buckland said: “No one should be forced to brave traffic by cars parked on the pavement. Blind and partially sighted people should be able to walk the streets without fear.”

North Swindon’s MP Justin Tomlinson said: “Often selfish and lazy parking can cause real problems for people with guide dogs, people in wheelchairs and people using pushchairs.”

While I agree pavement parking can represent serious problems for disabled people and mothers with pushchairs, it can cause problems for any pedestrian, especially the elderly and young children.

About two weeks ago I saw a young lady trip and stumble on the pavement in the Ellendune shopping centre. Fortunately, she was able to regain her balance and didn’t fall. The section of pavement where she stumbled is constructed of paving slabs that are broken and uneven. This damage has undoubtedly been caused by vehicles, some of which I have seen parking where they shouldn’t. The authorities do very little to prevent this nuisance behaviour. Apart from the anti-social aspects of pavement parking there are also serious economical consequences.

Swindon Borough Council is constantly pleading poverty, is responsible for repairing pavement parking damage but appears to do next to nothing to prevent it.

I fully agree with and support the Guide Dogs campaign. Pavements are for pedestrians. Preventing vehicles from parking on pavements will improve the environment for everyone. In addition it will save tax payers’ money for associated and unnecessary reparation costs.

K KANE Wharf Road Wroughton Swindon

Problems with property

The decision by the Communities and Local Government Secretary to approve on appeal the Marlborough Road development in Wroughton has shone a bright lens on the inadequacies of our planning system.

The council has approved development on some sites which are not being built on and, as a consequence, other developers have built on land we do not want developed.

The truth is that large house builders, not local communities, are determining our planning system. Developers are buying up land, sitting on it for many years and in some cases waiting more than a decade to build on them. As a consequence the houses we’ve planned to build aren’t being built and government is punishing Swindon for not building the housing it needs by approving speculative, unplanned house building.

So why are large housebuilders so reluctant to build? The reality is that housebuilders not building homes on the land they already own has led to house prices dramatically increasing, which of course provides greater profit margins for housebuilders. They’re not building sufficient homes for their own self-interest and as a consequence the homes planned to be built in new estates, haven’t been.

So given housebuilders are so reluctant to build the houses we need, one might assume the Government would agree measures to force the housebuilders to start building. Wrong! The Government has passed not a single measure to force housebuilders to build on the land they already own and for which house building is planned. Nobody knows the reason behind this but it is a statement of fact that there a number of directors of house building companies who have donated to the Conservative Party.

So where we are is that house builders are reluctant to build sufficient homes we need in order to increase profit margins. The Tory Party who are in part funded by major house builders are unwilling to force their funders and supporters to start building in the national interest, rather than self-interest.

And who are the losers of this situation? Well, certainly young people who get further and further away from stepping on to the property ladder as house prices continue to soar. But also local communities fighting against unwanted and unplanned development and yet after being given false hope, have had their campaign smashed by the Secretary of State on the grounds that we are not building sufficient homes.

COUN JIM ROBBINS Labour Group Lead for Strategic Planning

Don’t blame it on Brexit

Adam Poole assures your readers that he ‘stands up for simple values such as truth and honesty’ and then suggests that since the EU referendum the country has experienced rising prices, rising bankruptcies, falling living standards and around 50,000 people losing their jobs.

Mr Poole links each of these negatives with the vote to leave the political construct of the EU; sadly he is tilting at windmills.

I am in full agreement with him that currency fluctuations negatively affect the price of imported goods, just as they help make exporting more attractive. However, currency movement has always been an issue for business hence the reason many companies engage in currency hedging.

The issue of rising bankruptcies especially among personal creditors has been assessed as being down to a number of reasons of which the Brexit vote is simply one and not necessarily the primary reason. Incidentally the number of IVAs are only back to 2014 levels, which while very disappointing does not suggest it is solely down to Brexit. As for company bankruptcies it is worth noting that the first quarter of any year usually sees a rise in the number of insolvencies as business owners assess the previous year’s results and the prospects for the coming year.

Administrations were slightly up by 2.1 per cent compared to the previous quarter but 13 per cent up compared to the same period last year. In real numbers this means that 41 more companies entered Administration in Q1 2017 than in Q1 2016. Conversely Company Voluntary Arrangements were down in the same comparative periods reducing by one on the previous quarter and three on the same period last year. The number of CVAs continues to remain very low compared to other forms of corporate insolvencies and compared to IVAs.

I’m not quite sure what Mr Poole really means when he writes there has been a fall in living standards. Using data from the Office for Budget Responsibility projections, it is estimated that income growth has slowed substantially in 2016-17, with typical income 1.2 per cent higher than the year before. For working-age households the projection is that growth will more than halve to only 0.5 per cent. What is clear is that Standards of living are not necessarily falling but they are not increasing at pre-2016 rates. However, Brexit alone is not solely to blame.

Finally, Mr Poole refers to the loss of 50,000 jobs which he suggests is as a result of Brexit, whereas in reality job gains and losses are a naturally occurring cycle with a number of reasons affecting employers decisions. Only this week GalxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced the loss of 320 UK jobs and the closure of factories in Cumbria; these are not due to Brexit but reflect decisions made by ambitious management who are streamlining the company’s operations.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive Swindon

Upper class insults

Crikey, has Bill Williams (SA July 25) joined the British upper crust in his put down of me and his defence of Des Morgan, by calling me a ‘bounder’? Although he did stop short of adding ‘and cad’ to it, which is something to be thankful for I suppose!

I have not heard the like since Bertie Wooster, or the late great comedian and ‘ladies man’ Terry Thomas, graced our silver screens. Normally the term is associated with untrustworthy husbands to their wives but not exclusively so – however, I don’t think that I fall into that category. At any rate I can say in all honesty that I have had no complaints to date from the female of the species.

If it was meant to be a derogatory term, Bill, then you have had the opposite effect, in having me in fits of laughter all of this morning as it keeps popping into my head. I don’t think that you could have picked up such English upper crust talk from Glasgow, and I don’t seem to recall seeing many kangaroos bounding around in that great city of culture either. Anyway we can always rely upon you to tickle the parts that others can’t reach Bill, and indeed you have given me a ‘spiffing good laugh old chap’, what?

And I must bid you ‘toodle-pip’ for now and please go easy on the champers, there’s a good fellow.

GA WOODWARD Nelson Street Swindon