Letters: June 28, 2016

Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Parish councils proposal

I WRITE in response to David Renard’s column on June 23 regarding new parish councils.

I think it is worth providing a background to why the council has got itself in such a black hole and the long term damage Conservative councillors’ decisions are having on Swindon.

Since 2010 when the government’s cuts agenda started the Conservatives have been reducing the level of local services provided in Swindon.

We have seen the extent that services have been cut back with the state of Swindon’s roads and the length of grass in Swindon’s green areas.

It is no coincidence that services have been gradually cut back while satisfaction in the quality of our services has declined.

While services have cut back, the Conservatives argued for no council tax increases for five years and racked up huge levels of borrowing, with debt reaching £155m, leading to the council spending £10m annually on debt management.

All this has left the council in a terrible financial position, with dramatically declined services, all for short-term political benefit.

All these short-term decisions have led the council going beyond tipping point, where the Conservatives argue the council is no longer able to deliver many local services, like grounds maintenance.

So Cllr Renard is proposing the introduction of new parishes to offload many local services.

Do not believe him when he says the introduction of parish councils is anything other than a way to get the council out of a financial mess.

In Cllr Renard’s article he referred to the recent consultation on parishes. He indicated nearly all of those who responded opposed the imposition of new parishes.

He is of course correct and This reinforces the fact that the Conservatives’ proposal to impose new parishes on people without offering them any democratic say, is unjust.

Cllr Renard mentions the fact that he and his colleagues wish to impose new parishes on people in order for them to increase people’s council taxes through a precept.

He described the increase as only “small.” Yet, in years gone by Cllr Renard and his party colleagues considered any increase in council tax as too much, let alone a £75 increase through a new precept.

And this doesn’t take into account the likely council tax increases it has budgeted to make in the future that will be at least an additional £30.

So expect a council tax increase of more than £100 in a year – more than a seven per cent increase.

There is another option. The council could raise the additional funds it thinks it needs to run local services without having to introduce a permanent new layer of bureaucracy in parish councils.

By law, this would require a local referendum. The Conservatives do not want the people to have a say but if we learned anything from the recent EU referendum, surely it is that politicians have for too long been willing to ignore the will of local people and, as a consequence, subvert democracy.

These parish councils will be permanent, once services are removed from Swindon Council it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to bring them back and this further reinforces the need to let local people have a say.

CLLR JIM GRANT

Swindon Labour Group Leader

....

Time for nation to unite

I WILL forever consider the 23rd of June 2016, to be one of the most momentous occasions in my lifetime,

But may I make a plea to all the people who voted remain? The democratic decision has been made. It is time that we buried our differences and stood shoulder to shoulder, united as a free nation.

The winds of change will take time to settle down.

We are all natives of these islands and it is in our best interests that we all work together. As a great trading nation I feel confident we will flourish outside the European Union.

World trade lies before us and we must grasp the opportunity denied to us for more than 40 years.

The fishing ports that surround these islands will flourish once again.

Small businesses and farmers will be released from the shackles of Brussels’ endless red tape. We will control our borders once again, a necessity in these dangerous times.

We will be able to be selective regarding whom we accept into our country with the skills that will benefit us all.

Our NHS, the envy of the world, will cease to be the International Health Service.

Most important of all, our ancestors who fought in two world wars did not die in vain.

There is no doubt in my mind that the house of cards called the European Union will now fall and suffer the same fate as David Cameron

BILL WILLIAMS

Merlin Way, Covingham, Swindon.

....

UK will be on top again

WITH the referendum safely out of the way and a satisfactory result (well, it is to me) we can now get on with the rebuilding of our nation.

No more interference from Brussels, no more silly attempts at laws governing the curvature of bananas and cucumbers.

We can now put right years of misrule by the hierarchy of the EU with its unelected commissioners and presidents and many MEPs.

All this had to be paid for and they came out with new rules and laws giving them all massive rises in salaries, plus of course the tax-free expenses and allowances.

Many of the nations remaining in the EU must look upon Britain and its Brexit with envy. Well, the ordinary people of these countries, not of course the Angela Merkels and Jean Claude Junkers of this world.

All they can see is the loss of £350m every week from their coffers.

To me at least it was a no brainer to stop paying these corrupt commissioners a fat cat’s salary for messing up ordinary people’s lives and livelihoods

Now, due in most part to the British character, we are again going to be a free country.

Free to make our own laws and rules with no interference from the EU’s know-it-alls.

The most amazing thing for me was the fact that so many people were fooled by them.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time but you cant fool all the people all of the time.

We as a nation woke up. It took a long time but we got there in the end.

FREEDOM. Looks great doesn’t it? And I think it feels even better. Congratulation for all those who saw through what Brussels was doing to us.

Taking us all for fools. It seems amazing that we allowed it for so long.

All we have to do now is all work together to rebuild our nation and get us back were we belong. At the top.

We don’t need pettiness, we had enough of that from Brussels. Let’s just all join together and show them we are still GREAT BRITAIN.

DAVID COLLINS

Blake Crescent, Swindon

....

Preserving our economy

IMMEDIATELY following the referendum the well respected polling organisation YouGov declared that the latest academic study showed that it was the younger and better educated voters that tended to have supported Remain whereas the Brexit supporters tended to be elderly and poorly educated individuals.

Geriatrics, which include myself, ie over 70, who drive vehicles are subjected to a three-yearly self-assessment in order to ascertain if we are safe to drive and do not pose a threat to others while our franchise is unhindered.

At the same time the franchise is denied to people under 18, despite the fact that many of these young adults/students are far better equipped to make reasoned judgements than many of my own contemporaries.

A similar innovation could and should be introduced forthwith to minimise any further damage to our economy.

I, for my part, would willingly forgo my current entitlement if that criteria was extended to all.

It is the young and their respective families who will have to accept the consequences of this and maybe further fateful decisions in the future.

Funny old world isn’t it?

DERRICK BYE

Thresher Drive, Swindon

....

Generation gap on EU

AS A 73-year-old Remain voter, I am writing to apologise for the way in which my generation has let down the young by a large majority of us voting to leave rather than to remain in the EU. Most of the young, it would appear from the polls, voted to remain. My generation has blighted their future.

Unfortunately, the whole referendum debate, which should have been about Europe, was taken over by wild allegations about immigration.

I regret to say that there are many of my generation who through bigotry and prejudice resent any form of migration and in ignorance associated a vote against the EU with a vote against immigration.

If we genuinely wish to control immigration, and hopefully do so in a humane and civilised way, then it would be much better achieved in co-operation with the rest of Europe, rather than in not very splendid isolation.

On a lighter note however, under our new regime, with the new liberalised labour laws without EU interference, I do look forward to seeing our unemployed London city bankers picking sprouts in a freezing Lincolnshire winter after the EU establishes Frankfurt as the European financial centre and we have shipped all the east Europeans back to their home countries.

JEREMY KEMBLE

Overtown Hill, Wroughton

....

New chapter for UKIP

I WOULD like to send a big thank you to all the workers in the cross party Vote Leave campaign who worked tirelessly leafleting, campaigning and knocking on doors.

The British voters have minds of their own and don’t take kindly to being bullied by the leadership of the two main parties.

The work of UKIP is now to be the guardians of our independence and to see that our Westminster MPs do not slip back into their old ways.

TERRY HAYWARD

Burnham Road, Swindon

....

Many thanks to store

RECENTLY I had a fall outside Dunelm in Greenbridge and I’d like to express my sincere thanks to the staff and the manager of the store after they helped my wife and me when I fell over.

They looked after us with care and brought out a blanket and an umbrella as it was raining.

We will always consider Dunelm to be a caring company.

Thank you for your kindness.

MICK AND MAUREEN FISHER

Rodbourne Cheney, Swindon