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Thanks a lot, Stan

Great news. At long last, after many years of promises, Pajak’s Path in Spring Gardens is going to be installed, linking Plymouth Street to the Spring Gardens Car Park, along with improvements to Spring Gardens, which will greatly enhance this “ignored” area over the past few years.

This is all down to our local councillor Stan Pajak who has given many years to the Eastcott area and is a credit to Swindon Borough Council and Swindon generally.

His dedicated work enhancing Queens Park is also very much appreciated by us “locals”.

Forget party politics, just remember on the 3rd of May who has dedicated themselves to serving your area and give them your support so that they can continue their good work.

Gerry Taylor, Newcastle Street, Swindon

We’ve got to cough up

Yes, its that time of year again, the leaflets have started dropping. I read the latest one from our Labour Party, no mention of how they can sustain three borough councillors in this ward, at a time when the whole town is now covered by parish councils. That must be a money saver, tax payers are now being hit twice by these two items, so the borough needs to get its act in order and go down to one councillor per ward.

As for the leaflet, and the claims about house building, go back a few years, and the then council was given a handout of £10 million, which was receipts from council house sales. Did they then go out and build more council houses? No, they spent it on the revamp of the Brunel Centre, which of course they then sold off.

Perhaps the Labour candidate can explain why they are buying £6,000 worth of flower bulbs. And at a time when they are paying the council around £380,000, for tasks like grass cutting, road sweeping, why are they spending thousands buying new road sweepers? Never mind, the tax payer can cough up again and again it seems.

T Reynolds, Wheeler Avenue, Swindon

Keep an open mind

You know one thing that is so true and very topical at the moment, the vile and endless propaganda certain press and media spew out day after day. Not just brainwashing vulnerable and maybe lesser educated people, but other well versed and travelled folk, making them believe almost anything they see, hear and read, on the premise that you feed the same line over and over again, then it will stick in people’s heads and they will believe.

James O’brien on LBC is well worth a listen. His daily rants and general opinion (catch up on LBC website) always leaves me with a better, if not a complete understanding on where we are today.

If you’re fed up like I am of political answers from national and local politicians, he is like a breath of fresh air; not afraid to tell it like it is, and at who’s door the problem lies.

An example of lighter propaganda, and general rumour spreading, was illustrated in Roger Lack’s belief that all TV reception is bad in North Swindon. Not true. If you would like a no obligation check, just drop me an email, I’d be pleased to help - completeaerials@mac.com

We need to stick together in these troubled times.

Robert Webb, Bideford Close, Park North

Heard it all before

For the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would lend too much credibility to anything said by Coun Garry Perkins, and it seems the Trustees of the Lydiard Park Heritage Trust are the latest people to be taken in by him (SA 23 February). He claims that a figure of £850k mentioned in 2015 and a report by SBC employed consultants which suggest the cost of essential repairs to Lydiard are £850k is simply coincidence and that the £850k was only ever meant to be a contribution to a total cost (allegedly not known). In February 2016 SBC published seven facts about Lydiard, what was made clear was that “The Council is unable to afford any subsidy” – has that ‘fact’ now changed?

I recall how five years ago Coun Perkins said with regard to the £400k gift to Digital City that “ the minimum expectancy was now that the Council’s investment in the scheme be fully recovered plus a nominal 20% interest amount”. That money has never been repaid. And for the avoidance of doubt let me quote the councillor who on 2 September 2011 said “but the money will be paid back with interest to SBC by the new partner who will be joining”.

When SBC borrowed £15m to build the Whale Bridge car park Coun Perkins said “There is a pay back; it is an initial investment – we will get that money back. It’s not like we’re spending £15m and saying goodbye.” Many of your readers might think that is exactly what has happened – especially as the car park has not generated any private commercial interest in developing the Kimmerfield site.

Coun Perkins now claims that we can look forward to progress being made with regard to the development of the old Locarno building; if he means the site is being tidied up and new hoardings (hopefully secure) are being erected, I can but agree.

But we have ‘heard this before’ – as recently as November 2016 the Conservatives assured us that the developer had signed a three way partnership agreement with Forward Swindon and here’s the rub, the man in charge of Swindon’s regeneration, the voice of the Council, Coun Garry Perkins said of the Locarno development “That with an opening date of November 2019 the future looks bright”.

Sadly, I recall how in 2007 the Council also claimed to have signed a three way agreement and developers expressed their hope to be ‘on site’ early in 2008 – it never happened, did it?

Des Morgan, Caraway Drive, Swindon