It seems likely now that the recommendations are likely to be:
See previous article Number of councillors to be addressed fpr more information
Swindon has 59 Councillors which gives an average number of 2,500 voters per Councillor. However, in the Abbey Meads ward, that works out at 4,471 voters per Councillor, in 2010, rising to 5,174 in 2016. The disparity has risen because of the growth in housing in this ward without an increase in the number of Councillors. I'm sure that our three Councillors would agree that more are needed to spread the load more evenly. But something is being done. Click on [Read More] to read about Electoral Boundary changes.
Just to remind you, our candidates are:
UK Conservative MP Candidate, Justin Tomlinson, (Conservative Party)
UK Labour MP Candidate, Victor Agarwal, (Labour Party)
UK Liberal Democrat MP Candidate, Jane Lock, (Liberal Democrats)
UK Green MP Candidate, Bill Hughes, (Green Party)
UK Green UKIP Candidate, Stephen Halden, (UK Independence Party (UKIP))
Just in case you missed an interesting exchange in the House of Commons yesterday, I've repeated the Swindon Brough Council Question here. (From Hansard May 6th, 2009). I suppose your reaction will depend on which side of the political divide you sit - low council taxes or more services.
Anne Snelgrove (South Swindon) (Lab): Local people are very concerned about Swindon borough council's cuts in park-and-ride services and about cuts of up to four branch libraries, despite more than £400,000 of extra funding from the Government. Is that not a warning of Tory public service cuts instead of Labour investment?
| Candidate | Party | Votes |
| Vera Margaret Rose Tomlinson | Conservatives | 1,836 |
| Gerald John Lawson | Labour | 266 |
| Richard Andrew Law | Liberal Democrats | 226 |
| Robin Howard Tingey | UK Independence Party | 90 |
The Conservative Group has sacked Abbey Meads Councillor Dr Owen Lister after his membership of the UKIP was revealed. The full story can be seen at ....
A meeting was held in the Pilgrim Centre, in Swindon, on a foul Friday evening (11th Jan 08). Despite that, about 150 people attended. The meeting was called by MP for North Swindon, Mr Michael Wills, who also skillfully chaired what became a noisy and emotive meeting at times.
In July, the Government issued a Green Paper called "The Governance of Britain". In It, it states:
The Government believes it must find new ways to enable people to become active citizens, empowered and fully engaged in local decision-making. The Government will enhance democracy by devolving more power directly to the people.
