Letters: February 15, 2017

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Stand for election

NEW parish councils have now been imposed on Swindon by the Conservative administration, despite opposition from the other parties and whether residents were in favour of such a move.

The whole idea behind parish councils is to allow local residents to have a say in the affairs of their community and it is regrettable, therefore, that our borough councillors have seen fit to lay the foundations of the new parishes without any reference to residents, (who are their electorate) whether through direct consultation or through local community groups.

Meetings have been taken behind closed doors – the parish precept was set before any public meetings were held to discuss what view residents might take on the way their future parish should be serviced and shaped. The new precepts, together with the increase in general council tax, will raise the average household bill by 10 per cent.

This will hit pensioners particularly hard as it will wipe out any increase in this year’s State Pension at a time when food prices are rising and we have already seen the cost of fuel increased.

May I urge as many residents as possible to stand as independent candidates in the parish councillors election.

It must be the local community who now, in keeping with the spirit of parishing who make the decisions for their locality, fight their corner with the borough council over decisions such as planning which impact their community, that can lobby for road repairs and improvements etc.

My fear is that our Conservative borough councillors will stand for election and, if not opposed, will then continue to run our communities as they do now with more concern for their party whips at the borough council than for their residents.

Such a result would merely impose a further layer of costly bureaucracy on hard pressed Swindon council tax payers.

We are told that it is in our interests that we have parishes, although it has clearly been a cynical ploy on the part of the borough council to raise further revenue, no doubt helping to defray the costs of a council who continually assure us that they have no money and must cut our services to the bone with one hand whilst voting themselves an increase in their own expenses.

They do not ensure that expensive projects such as the refurbishment of the Oasis are not making a loss.

They have shown no regard for the opinions of their electorate, but are able to find the money to fund pet projects such as a new art gallery.

Much as I would love to have an art gallery I would rather have libraries, decent roads and bus services and the retention of our “family silver” - Lydiard Park for example.

The cuts they have already made will impact our community for years, especially the loss of a proper library service which will affect the education of our children, the loss of community groups so important to the elderly and vulnerable in our midst.

Given control in our parishes, we must fear what further devastation they will impose upon us. They will be merely puppets of the existing Parish Council, not representatives of the local people, The further layer of costly bureaucracy which will decrease rather than increase the amount of money available for decent public services.

No one doubts the increasing cost of social care imposed upon councils but we have already made a substantial contribution to such care through National Insurance and Income Tax. This is now a national scandal which must be addressed by the Department of Health and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Their argument is not with the council taxpayers of Swindon but with the Treasury and the Government.

The politics of parishing must not be Tory, Liberal, Labour or UKIP. It must be the politics of the local people governing their local community, protecting what is important to them and rejecting any vanity projects.

The way the project of creating parish councillors has been handled has been lacking in public accountability and democracy. I have written to Robert Buckland and asked him to request that the Minister responsible looks into the way that setting up and imposition of parishes has been handled. Any response to that will of course come well after the Parishes have been established and probably after the elections for Councillors have been held.

I would therefore urge as many ordinary people as possible to put their names forward to fight for their community and not let it fall into the hands of those who have already not served us well.

JANE FRANCIS

Wilmot Close

The Prinnels, Swindon

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Don’t just moan

I READ with interest the comments made in the Your Say column on February 10 with reference to the increase in council tax.

If the contributors feel so strongly about it why don’t they stand for election to the borough council or sit on their local parish council?

They would be able to influence decisions and also understand the reasons for the increases.

What services would they like to lose? Maybe if the borough had put up council tax by a small amount every year instead of boasting about how low they had kept it we might not be in our present predicament.

ROY BACON

Foxbridge, Swindon

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Stand against Trump

I ENJOY Des Morgan’s contributions to these columns. His letters usually have intellect, understanding and a great measure of common sense.

However, in even suggesting support for Donald Trump, (EA Sat 4th) and accepting he did add a throwaway, “I’m not a Donald Trump supporter” he then went on to explain, tolerate, almost justify Trump’s approach to the leadership of the ‘free’ world.

The quirky US voting system enabled a minority of voters to put him into the White House. The majority of voting Americans who did not vote for him, also deserve some respect.

If Hilary Clinton had not been such a tainted candidate her majority would have been even greater.

In the first three weeks the Trump administration has shown itself to have a lack of respect for truth, decency and the rule of law.

I’m not only referring to his bizarre stance on the travel ban, which is rightly ruled illegal and un American.

There are so many examples that the very idea of NOT condemning a demagogue who encourages and legitimises racial, ethnic, and religious hostility, leaves me personally cold.

His personal stance on torture; his adoption of alternative facts demonstrated by odd behaviour over inauguration crowd numbers; his illiberal views on women’s issues.

And his disdainful attitude to the female sex; his use of scapegoating to turn citizen against citizen, his view on ecology, big oil, promoting coal and his destruction of native Americans’ holy sites by authorising the cheapest pipeline.

Also his acceptance of racism in his pronouncements on the KKK; his denigration of his own security services; his slash and burn approach to negotiated international agreements, stoking up new tensions in the process.

Then there is a refusal to distance himself from his business interests during the presidency; his penchant for one-sided trade deals and his intent to tear up anything that is not only in the US interest; his support for the unnecessary move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem calculated to inflame Palestinians and undermine a two-state solution, his agreement to a gung ho mission in Yemen with too little intelligence, leading to so much bloodshed.

And his sweeping away of all bank regulation imposed after the financial meltdown; his destruction of an extended health service to help the most disadvantaged; his disrespect for the country’s judiciary. ; I could go on.

How do you think his stance has gone down in Iraq where Shia Muslims and US soldiers fight side by side against Deash?

As for his promise to “drain the Washington Swamp on behalf of ordinary people” … well he did that, then promptly filled it right back up again, this time with his personal billionaire cronies.

This country has tried, not always successfully, to promote morality at home and champion ethics in its dealings internationally. There is today an ethical imperative to call how very alien his very presence at the top of American government is.… even at the risk of some illusory benefit of holding our noses. At least the diminutive John Bercow is making a statement in support of decency and the rule of law.

Finally, there are NO decent trade deals to be done with the USA and cosying up to this person in the hope of some scraps, will only lend further harm to our standing in the free world.

JOHN STOOKE

Haydon End, Swindon

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Blame sex gangs

A RECENT letter from Steve Thompson more or less said that any talk of crimes in Rochdale were not down to anybody but the local MP Cyril Smith and his mates.

I read in the latest press report, that one of the notorious child sex gangs in the town, who have all been tried for these crimes, have had their sentences confirmed and their attempts not be be deported back to Pakistan overthrown, so that will be a few more of these evil thugs on their way.

Mr Thompson needs to read the press more and he’ll realise the local Muslims, town councillors and even the police turned their backs on these crimes, and as many as 400 young girls were attacked by these thugs.

The MP was a danger to young boys, these thugs are just unwanted cretins.

T REYNOLDS

Wheeler Ave

Swindon