On Sunday I went with UNISON Labour Link colleagues to a fundraising dinner in Ealing. It was packed and extremely well organised. The food and service was also excellent. It was great to meet and catch up with Labour and union friends. After speeches …Read more…
Social catastrophe
In a previous letter I wrote about the impact of the huge energy price increases on domestic customers. Many will … MoreRead more…
Time to end the use of “(un)affordable rent”
Read on below or dowload a PDF Recently I discovered that a tenant living in a 3 bedroomed house on … MoreRead more…
Swindon bus drivers ‘won’t accept low pay any longer’
Over 80 bus drivers employed by Stagecoach West in Swindon have overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action, joining their colleagues in Gloucestershire in a dispute over low pay. The drivers…Read more…
Denying the housing crisis in Swindon
Back in October David Renard, in his capacity as Environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association wrote that “There is … MoreRead more…
Tenants right to choose
Prior to the pandemic Swindon’s council tenants were able to phone in any housing repair. During the pandemic the housing … MoreRead more…
Swindon as dormitory town?
According to government statistics not a single ‘social rent’ home was added to Swindon’s housing stock over the last five … MoreRead more…
The “Addison Act” and the building of Pinehurst
Parallels between the housing crisis in 1919 and today This pamphlet draws on original research into the Addison Act and … MoreRead more…
Swindon’s first council estate – The Addison Act and the building of Pinehurst
Pinehurst was Swindon’s first council housing estate. Building started under the 1919 Housing and Planning Act introduced by Liberal … MoreRead more…
Cavendish Square demonstration
Parks and East Walcot Community Forum is organising a demonstration at Cavendish Square on Saturday June 22nd at 10 a.m. … MoreRead more…
Show of unity
Honda workers, their supporters and the people of Swindon will be coming together this Saturday (March 30) in a show of unity to march and rally to Save Honda Swindon. Marchers are set to…Read more…
Show ‘Civic pride’ call
#SaveHondaSwindon campaigners will be joined by a giant ad van emblazoned with a plea to the car giant to stay true to the town in a day of action across Swindon to avert the closure of the town’s…Read more…
‘We must save Honda’
The UK is in the grip of a manufacturing emergency which will accelerate, leaving tens of thousands of jobs hanging in the balance, unless the Honda plant in Swindon is saved, Unite warned today…Read more…
The Cavendish Square conundrum
Swindon Borough Council has recently bought some land at Cavendish Square for more than £3 million. This was land that … MoreRead more…
The centenary of the “Addison Act”
“The money we propose to spend on housing is an insurance against Bolshevism and revolution” Introduction The year 2019 marks … MoreRead more…
Swindon – the real picture (Part One)
What’s happening with earnings? News from the Centre for Cities report was picked up by local politicians as an opportunity to declare how well things were going in the town. The rate of productivity per worker saw the town ranked seventh, whilst…Read more…
A ‘low wage, low welfare’ town
It’s all very well David Renard clutching the Cities Report for a photo opportunity, but if you want to make an objective assessment of the state of the town you have to look at all of it, rather than picking out a few tables which can be used to show the brilliance of our municipal […]Read more…
“Cash strapped Councils struggle to cope as Osborne’s austerity cuts bite”
Research by the Financial Times shows the extent to which local authorities are struggling to cope with the cuts in funding associated with the coalition government’s ‘austerity’ measures. The FT reported that vital services to 150,000 pensioners have been withdrawn whilst child…Read more…
Buckhurst field and the New College Corporation
New College is shortly to put in an application for an all-weather football pitch on Council owned Buckhurst field1 which sits on the edge of Park North and Walcot. The New College management are looking to the Council to give it a 25 year lease. The cost of the pitch would be £600,000 with…Read more…