Regular readers of my blog will probably be familiar with my recent notes concerning Swindon’s small clutch of Liberal Democrat Councillors who represent the electoral ward of Eastcott and, in that post, I discussed how the residents of the ward were being subjected to a concentrated bombardment of political Porky-Pies contained in Lib Dem election material.

Well, here’s the thing:  Councillor Dave Wood, (the boyfriend of newly elected Eastcott Lib Dem councillor Nicky Sewell), recently appeared on the Talkswindon forum and,  in a discussion topic he euphemisticly named ‘Coming Soon: The Truth about Eastcott 2011″,  he promised to:

“Set the record straight”

I became briefly excited by this, until I read a bit further and noticed that he almost immediately added: “Well, not now.  As soon as I get the time I will be back”

Councillor Dave has been back, but hasn’t yet set any records straight.  In fact he’s gone to some lengths to avoid answering any questions at all which,  all by itself,  raises yet more questions but, as  Dave has already accused me of trying to divert his ‘topic-of-truth’,  I thought I might chuck a couple of interesting questions out to the world at large and see what comes back.

During Nicky Sewells election campaign the lib dem election leaflets variously trumpeted the messages that Nicky Sewell was a ‘local campaigner’, a resident of Bowood road and that she was fiercely opposed to ‘HMO’s, (no, not Homo’s, but ‘Houses in multiple occupation’).   In no leaflet was reference ever made to Nicky Sewell and Dave Wood being a couple or apparently live together at Nicky’s Bowood Road address.

Normally it absolutely should not matter what the living arrangements between two people are, unless of course they are doing something illegal while they are doing it.  I’m not suggesting that Cllr’s Sewell and Wood are doing anything illegal, but my curiosity is piqued by effort Dave and Nicky are both expending as they apparently try to hide where they live from the very people that elected them.

Just prior to  Councillor Wood being elected to council in 2010 his nomination papers gave his address as: 21 Bowood Road, Eastcott and his proposer was none other than Nicola E Sewell, his girlfriend and also latterly known as Councillor Nicky Sewell.

Oddly though, after he was elected Councillor Wood submitted his contact details for inclusion on the Swindon Borough Council Website, and listed his home address as:

Home Address:
c/o Civic Offices

Councillor Woods register of interests entry is also interesting because, in the section where councillors must disclose any “Land in the area of the authority in which you have a beneficial interest”, Daves entry says starkly:

Details available at the Civic Offices, Euclid Street, Swindon SN1 2JH

I presume then, that Cllr Wood does have a beneficial interest in some land or property within the Borough, but he does not wish members of the public to easily find out what, or where it might be.  At this point I can only speculate as to why he wants to hide these details from public scrutiny.

In 2011, when she decided to join her boyfriend in the council chamber,  Nicky Sewell also recorded her address as being 21 Bowood Road, Eastcott on her nomination papers but, following Cllr Dave Woods previous example,  post-election she appears to have given her address as:

Home Address:
c/o Civic Offices

This strikes me a being more than a little curious and quite contrary to my previous perception that liberal democrats are wedded to the notion of demanding transparency, openness and honesty from elected public servants.  Considering the considerable gravity which her election material gave to her being a ‘local’ resident of Eastcott, it seems very strange to me that both she and Dave Wood would, upon being elected to council by other residents of Eastcott, would then go to considerable lengths to hide where they live,  reduce their contact details to the bare minimum and go to  similar lengths to prevent the easy examination of their register of interests.
Perhaps Dave rents out a house to multiple occupants, (embarrassing for him considering the Eastcott Lib Dems apparent policy on HMO’s), or maybe the pair of them don’t want Eastcotts Catholic population to know they’re living in sin.  Despite what their own election material said recently, and what was submitted on Cllr Sewells nomination papers,  it’s also possible that neither of them live within the ward and the Bowood Road address may not be where they actually reside.  (that would cause a problem with electoral law of course).

I don’t know what the answers are to be honest, (and as Cllr Wood has already said he won’t answer questions from anyone he thinks is a labour supporter -  I actively supported Chris Watts’ campaign in Eastcott so I guess that makes me a labour supporter in Daves opinion), but I think this is very strange behaviour from two people who actively sought votes from the residents of Eastcott – because they said they wanted to publicly serve those residents – but then try to hide where they live and what other property they have a ‘beneficial interest in’, within the Borough.

Cllr Wood is refusing to answer reasonable questions about public domain information about himself which ought to be freely and easily available.  His example, which Cllr Sewell is now following, seems to suggest that they might both think that transparency is something which applies to other Borough Councillors, but not to them.  I beg to differ.

Given that it is a mandatory requirement that all Borough Councillors accurately maintain their register of interests and update it within 28 days of any changes, I feel it is my civic duty to stick my nose in and have a good long sniff on behalf of the other incurably curious tax-paying residents of the Borough.  To that end I have today submitted the following freedom of information request. It may yet prove to be the first of several.

Dear Swindon Borough Council,

I note that the Register of Interests entry for Swindon Borough
Councillor Dave Wood (Eastcott Ward) does not record details of
land in the area of the authority in which he has a beneficial
interest.

The on-line register of interests document available at

http://ww5.swindon.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=926&T=6&J=3
states that this information is available at the Civic Offices,
Euclid Street, Swindon SN1 2JH.

Question 1: Please supply the address and other relevant details of
any land and properties in the area of the authority in which Cllr
Dave Wood has a beneficial interest.

I note that a register of interests entry for Cllr Nicky Sewell is
not available online at

http://ww5.swindon.gov.uk/moderngov/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=1576&J=1

Question 2: Please supply the address and other relevant details of
any land and properties in the area of the authority in which Cllr
Nicky Sewell has a beneficial interest.

Question 3: On the current electoral role for the Borough of
Swindon, at what address or addresses are Nicky Sewell and Dave
Wood registered to vote?

Yours faithfully,

Geoff Reid

As the  ‘No smoke without fire’ analogy is so often proved correct within local politics,  I very much look forward to finding out what it is that Cllr’s Wood and Sewell are intent on hiding.

Have you met Michael?, if you haven’t yet had the pleasure, but you live in Swindon’s Freshbrook and Grange Park ward, your chances of finding Michael on your doorstep will greatly increase as we get nearer to the local elections on May the 5th and Michael becomes increasingly desperate for you to back his Conservative candidature with your vote.

Many residents won’t recognise Michael without first seeing a photograph of him because he’s not as regular a feature in the ward as you might expect your local councillor to be. Michael lives about 4 miles away, doesn’t drive himself and usually relies on his wife to chaffeur him to West Swindon in the family Mercedes.  Once Michaels striking resemblance to Homer Simpson is noted I can almost guarantee you’ll recognise him when you he wanders nervously down your street.

Perhaps you’re of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter where your local councillor lives as long as they do a good job of representing your ward, and normally I’d agree with you, but in Michael’s case I don’t think he’s doing a good job for anyone apart from himself and his political party.  Representing the residents for Freshbrook and Grange Park, and the town generally, seem to be a long way down Michaels list of priorities so, if you are tempted to lend your vote to Conservative Cllr Michael Dickinson, here’s a few things about him you might wish to reflect upon before putting your ‘X’ next to his name on the ballot paper and returning him to council for another lucrative, (for him), but ineffectual, (for you), term in office at your expense.

Firstly, Michael works as an accountant at a college on the other side of Swindon – so he’s supposedly good with numbers.  He’s also a very keen psephologist, which means he obsessively studies the statistical and sociological results of elections.  Over the past few years I’ve gradually formed the opinion that the direction of Michaels internal political compass is heavily influenced by the results of recent elections.   I believe that Michaels political ‘position’ is always dictated by what is most likely to get him elected and, of course, to keep him drawing a handsome allowance from the public purse.   The rigorous application and defence of political principles is an alien concept to someone like Michael who, I think, is most best described as being Politically Mercenary.

Psephologist & Political Mercenary

Michael hasn’t always been committed to the Conservative party as he likes to suggest and generally avoids discussing his political past because he doesn’t like people to realise he was first a Conservative, then became a Liberal Democrat before leaving them and re-joining the conservative party again.

Michael was first a member of the conservative party at some time prior to 1998.  At this point in time Swindon Conservatives, (having just 5 Council seats), were obviously not a healthy party in Swindon and with a recently elected Labour government sitting in Westminster Michael probably thought that the Swindon conservatives were unlikely to gain power in the Council in his near political future.  Having psephologised the numbers, he left the Conservative party and threw his political lot in with Swindons Liberal Democrats who, at that time, had 9 council seats and seemed likely to gain more. (remember that this was a happier time for the liberal democrats generally and the spectre of breaking their own pledges had not begun to seriously erode their credibility with the Swindon electorate).

Michael Stands For Election

The 1999 Swindon local election results showed Michael that his psephology had correctly oriented his political compass as the Lib Dems gained another seat, Labour lost one seat and the Conservatives remained static.  Michael knew he was now in the party most likely to get him elected and in 2000 he was duly elected as a Liberal Democrat Councillor in the West Swindon ward of Freshbrook & Grange Park.  I think it’s fair to say that Michael didn’t exactly impress folk with either his performance as a ward councillor or his longevity in his first stint as an elected member.

Sex on the ward

In March 2001 Freshbrook and Grange Park was represented by 3 Liberal Democrat Councillors, Geraldine Robertson, Judith Peppitt and Michael Dickinson.  All three said they were ‘shocked’ when the Swindon Advertiser reported that a brothel was operating in their ward.  I’ll come back to this later, but it was perhaps this ‘shocking’ piece of news which first ignited in Michael an enduring interest in Swindon’s sex industry and led to him becoming the butt of several long-running and ribald jokes which are still repeated in the civic offices today.

The Accountant Likes the Euro

In January 2002 Michael irritated many of Swindon’s Euro sceptics when he was described as ‘arguing passionately in favour of joining he Euro’.  He didn’t enjoy the criticism that his europhilia provoked and he appears to carefully hidden his Pro-Europe leanings ever since.   If Michael appears at your door in the next few days you may wish to enquire of him what his current position on Europe is.  Tip: Have a box of tissues to hand by your front door because Michael tends to sweat profusely when asked questions or made nervous.

Struck through section factually incorrect – awaiting edit

Michael Stands Down – 1st of May 2002

Versions vary as to why Michael stood down from council in May 2002, almost exactly two years before the end of his elected term.  One version of events is that Michael had a falling-out with the lib dem leadership and another is that he simply couldn’t take the pressure.  The ‘pressure’ scenario is unlikely in my opinion as he doesn’t appear to have put himself in any positions where he was under any pressure, which leaves another version sounding most plausible to me – Several Councillors, (who were serving at the time),  have told me that Michael had told them that he stood down because he felt he couldn’t represent the residents of Freshbrook & Grange Park properly while he was living in Swindon Road, Eastcott.  This might be the single and most electorally honest act of his political career thus far.

Drugs, Lies & Sex Again

Michael was no longer an elected member of the Council after the 2002 elections but he continued to be quite vocal in response to Conservative criticism of his lib dem colleagues and, on one noteworthy occasion in 2002, he publicly accused Conservative Cllr Justin Tomlinson of “spinning a web of fabrication” when Tomlinson, (now the North Swindon MP),  had apparently suggested that the Lib Dems wanted to legalise drugs and hard-core pornography.  This is quite funny in a typically and politically hypocritical way, because:

By 2004 Michael was pushing to allow street prostitution in Swindon

By 2005 Michael was pointedly refusing to answer questions as to whether he’d ever taken drugs

And by 2006 Michael was enthusiastic about Swindon sex shops being allowed to sell hard-core pornography.

B Dawson of Bramble Road Swindon suggested that Michael investigate using the grounds of the civic offices for prostitution, after which his internal ‘votometer’ seems to have alerted him to the notion that supporting street prostitution is a potential vote-loser except perhaps to other Councillors with a similar professional interest in the worlds oldest profession.

The Saint, The Sinners and The Lib Dem Pseudologists

Michael decided that he wanted to stand for council again and was selected by Swindon Lib Dems as their 2003 candidate for Central Ward.  This must have been quite convenient for Michael as it meant, if elected,  he could now walk out of his front door and into the ward he wished to represent in a matter of minutes.  No more being chauffeured to West Swindon.

But it wasn’t long before Michael’s preoccupation with the Swindon sex trade, mixed with the liberal democrats natural tendency towards publishing fiction as fact, began to foment a toxic cocktail which would boil up into an ugly scandal immediately after election day on May the 1st 2003, an election which saw Michael elected to council with just 16 votes between him and the 2nd place candidate, Labour’s David Cox.

Michaels inner-psephologist must have been bloated with elation at being elected and wetting himself with fear at the ultra-slim margin by which he had been elected.  He knew from day one that Central would never be a ‘safe ward’ for him, and I believe he began preparing an exit strategy from the ward and the Lib Dems at a very early stage of his new term of office.

The Sinners: During his 2003 election campaign Michael, supported by the Eastcott Lib Dem Stan Pajak, (Pajak acted as Michaels election agent/promoter), made much noise about dealing with the various ‘problems’ caused by street prostitution in Central ward   In one edition of the Liberal Democrat ‘Focus’ publication Michael & Stan used a picture of St Luke’s Parish Priest Father Leslie Pinfield under the headline “I’m backing Michael” but it was a claim which was later proven to be an outright lie by none other than Father Pinfield himself.

Michael seems to have been profoundly affected by dishonestly using a parish priest as part of his election campaign and on election night he opted to stay at home rather than attend the count and face his critics.  Local legend has it that someone had to run along to Michaels house and persuade him to come to the count to acknowledge his, (admittedly slim), victory over the labour candidate.  This is how Michael started his second, and similarly undistinguished term in office (as his first attempt in Freshbrook).

I’ve already blogged the Father Pinfield episode as part of a blog called Eastcott Ward – Swindon Lib Democrat Pajak Plays Pinnochio Politics which discusses other lies currently being pedalled by Swindon’s Lib Dems.

Oddly, and I’m really not sure how Michael managed this in such a short space of time, but in August 2003  the Swindon Advertiser reported that the “recently elected Michael Dickinson (Lib Dem, Central) was reimbursed £310.49″ in expenses.

December 2003 found Michael, now the liberal democrat spokesman for corporate governance, warning Swindon inhabitants that they faced ‘real misery’ if the Conservative council led by Mike Bawden couldn’t balance their budget with an extra £1.2 million being given by the then Labour government.  For his part, Mike Bawden (Old Town and Lawns) dismissed the new money as “not a vast amount” and the Swindon Advertiser reported that Council finance officers were recommending a 13.1 % rise in council tax.

Feelings continued to run hot about the 2004 budget and, by the time the annual budget setting meeting rolled around in February, Michael was facing something of a quandary – having psephologised the 2003 results of the Swindon local elections in which the Conservative gained 6 seats from Labour, Michael was already considering leaving the now electorally stationary lib dems and joining the upwardly mobile Conservatives but he had to decide which way he would vote on the 2004 budget.  The lib dems were expecting him to vote in support of a Labour/Lib Dem budget amendment which would result in a higher increase in council tax than the ruling conservatives wanted, or whether he should he vote with the conservatives, (and therefore against his own party),  in order to keep his future political colleagues sweet?   Several conservative councillors have told me that they expected Michael to vote with them on the night but, when the time approached for the vote to be taken, and Michael realised that his vote would tip the balance either way, he was suddenly ‘taken ill’ and had to be helped from the chamber.  Michaels ‘Italian Legs’ had returned in time to help him avoid taking any responsibility for, well, anything. Again.

The advertiser described the scene thus:

Friday, 13 February 2004

LABOUR and Liberal Democrats teamed up last night to defeat the Swindon Council Tory administration’s proposed budget.

Council taxpayers in Swindon now face a 7.3 per cent rise this Spring instead of the much-hyped 6.3 per cent planned by the Conservatives.

The drama and knife-edge outcome lived up to past tax-setting night epics in the council chamber.

The vote for the Tory budget was all square at 28-28. The tie-break was then decided by Mayor Derek Benfield’s casting vote. The Labour member for Covingham and Nythe supported the joint opposition.

Earlier, Coun Michael Dickinson (Lib-Dem, Central) was taken ill and had to be helped from the chamber.

The conservatives were furious with Michael and many of them consider that he ‘bottled it’ and had feigned illness to escape the chamber.  To this day some of them still hold him solely responsible for the 7.3% rise in council tax and it was perhaps this which spurred conservative councillor Mary Martin (Toothill and Westlea) to publish a leaflet which contained, according to the lib dems, ‘untrue statements’ about their policies – specifically regarding the Shaw community forest.  Mary Martin’s leaflet apparently claimed that the lib dems wanted to “bulldoze” the Shaw Community Forest to make way for a new football stadium after Michael was quoted on the lib dem website as saying that he was “enthusiastic about the initial plans” for the proposed stadium there.  The lib dem web page was later removed by the Lib Dems because, (they said), of the “confusion” it was causing.   Not much would surprise me with Michael, after all, he’s currently enthusiastic about building next to Coate Water Country Park but supposedly dead against just 175 houses being built on Hook Street near Lydiard Park.  But when Michael promises…

“If you elect me I promise to oppose development on Hook Street and adjacent to Lydiard Park”

…He doesn’t bother to tell residents that he’s already aware that Wiltshire County Council have scrapped their ‘urban buffer’ around West Swindon and that every inch of land on the West Side of Hook Street is likely to be developed, but there isn’t a damned thing he can, or will do about it.

But,  back in 2004 a lot of politically embarrassing things for Michael had been quietly swept under the civic carpet and he appears to have taken advice from older, wiser Conservatives who told him to keep his head down and not rock the boat.   It’s commonly believed that Michael was something of a double-agent during this period and was busily feeding information to the Conservative group.

The 2004 local elections arrived and Michael noted that his psephological compass was definitely pointing the right way for him when Labour lost another 3 seats to the Conservatives and the Lib Dems also lost one to them.  Psychologically speaking, Michael was now sitting next to an open aeroplane door, parachute on, ready to bail out.

On Thursday the 18th of November 2004 Michael spectacularly popped his head above the media parapet up to announce that he wanted the council to allow vice-girls to ply their trade in the town.  This immediately caused smouldering resentment of him to ignite into a blazing row within the Lib Dems, partly because of the standards board complaint made against Stand Pajak, (Michaels election agent), for dishonestly claiming Father Leslie Pinfield was backing Michaels anti-vice election campaign when actually he wasn’t.   Other lib dems felt that Michael had avoided taking any responsibility when the sticky stuff hit the rotating thing for Stan Pajak, and that Michaels rigorous defence of Stan consisted of saying “No Comment” to the press when approached for interview.

Just six days after Michael issued his proclamation about Swindon’s sex workers, the political atmosphere at Lib Dem HQ had become so toxic that he finally announced he was leaving the liberal democrats to become an independent councillor.  Michael said at the time:

“This is one momentous change for me after six years in the Liberal Democrats,”

Michael also said that he had no plans to leave the council, that he had not requested to join any other political group and had no plans to do so.

I firmly believe that Michaels exit from the lib dems was not as rushed or haphazard as it was meant to appear and had in fact been very carefully planned and executed.  Michael knew exactly what he was doing and, just 8 days later, he joined the conservative party for the second time and joined the largest, safest group of Swindon Borough Councillors – the Conservative group.

When quizzed by a reporter from the Swindon Advertiser Michael claimed that when he left the Lib Dems the week before he had not approached any other political party:

“I didn’t request to join the Conservative group until Monday,” he said.

But Michael must have forgotten that earlier in the same week he had already told the Advertiser:

“This is something that has been on the cards for a while now.

The conservatives subsequently offered Michael a political move to a ‘safe’ conservative ward – Freshbrook & Grange Park – (which you will no doubt remember is the same ward Michael abandoned in 2002 after serving only half his term of office).  For the remainder of his term as a Councillor for Central he effectively did nothing at all for the ward, preferring to spend his remaining time in office ingratiating himself with his new colleagues and not rocking any boats.

It was during Michaels 2007 election campaign that I started to observe him quite closely and I quickly concluded that he was shifty, politically mercenary and apt to deliberately deceive people as and when it suited him to do so.

When Rachael and I, (my wife), attended the 2007 count at the Oasis leisure centre, Michael and his wife admitted to us that they had deliberately deceived residents when speaking to them on their own doorsteps – leading them to believe that they would be moving into the ward if Michael was successfully elected.   Michael was elected but, for the next couple of years he remained firmly rooted in Eastcott until the the Swindon Lamplighters Network revealed in 2010 that Michael had finally upped sticks and moved from Eastcott.  At the time no one was quite sure where had he actually gone though.

It didn’t take long to track Michael down to his new house, (although he did make a feeble effort to disguise his whereabouts by having his councillor contact details on the SBC website appear to be a postal address only), but he couldn’t prevent the electorate of Freshbrook & Grange Park learning from his nomination papers that he had not moved into, or any closer, to the ward but had actually moved even further away to a Groundwell Road address on the very the edge of Walcot Ward.   Michaels new house is happily within easy walking distance of Michaels place of employment at the New College on Queens Drive, but is unhappily even farther away from West Swindon – suggesting that the problems he’d previously had in ‘representing’ the ward, which had led him to abandon Freshbrook on his first tour of duty, were probably worse now than the first time that he’d he failed to represent it.

There’s not much more to add about Michael, unless we want to get deeply into the daily minutiae of political facts about him, but one other significant point is that he was at some point appointed by Rod Bluh to the unpaid position of chairman of the Council’s Audit Committee.

This was significant for Swindon residents interested in the now-infamous Swindon WiFi scheme because Michael indicated that his financial scrutiny of the scheme would be rigorous and he certainly seemed intent on doing the right thing when, in early January 2010 he proposed that the WiFi deal, (the commercial arrangement made by Cll’rs Bluh and Edwards with Digital City (UK) Ltd), be referred to the internal audit committee.  Unfortunately that was about as far as it got.  An audit report was ordered and produced, but the remit of the investigation was deliberately narrowed to the point where it did not examine any aspects of the WiFi scheme which were remotely embarrassing to the conservative administration – which meant that almost nothing of importance was scrutinised or reported on properly.

To say that many of us were disappointed with Michaels performance would be a severe understatement, but we quickly learned why Michael had ‘gone flaccid’ on his earlier promises when the Swindon Advertiser revealed that Michael was now being paid a £4,211 ‘special responsibility allowance’ for his role as chairman of the audit committee.  It also emerged that Michael was the only councillor in 2010 to enjoy an increase in his allowances.  He was now firmly on the payroll and therefore very unlikely to rock the boat, in fact, he has since begun openly hampering efforts to get the audit committee scrutinise the WiFi scheme properly. (It could start by investigating why the £400,000 public loan to Digital City was never secured – despite multiple claims by senior officers and councillors that it had been secured).

I don’t intend to shred every aspect of Michael current election campaign in this blog because there is a lot to shred, I don’t have the time and I anticipate a healthy discussion of the political campaigns being fought in Freshbrook will happen naturally on the Talkswindon forum.  Michael has certainly made enough questionable election statements to promote a good discussion all by himself.

In summary then, it’s proper that I declare something of an interest in the Labour candidate Neil Heavens.

Neil lives just a few yards from my house and, because he does live in the ward, I’ve found it very easy to get to know him a little and get a sense of how he’ll represent the ward if he’s elected.  I can’t say that I agree with every aspect of Labour policy but I can honestly say that I think Neil will represent the residents of Freshbrook and Grange Park in a more honest and effective way than Michael Dickinson has ever managed.  To that end, and as a resident interested in who represents his family, street and community at council, I asked to second Neils nomination for election.  Of the candidate available to me, and unless he does something really silly in the meantime, I fully expect to vote for Neil.

I’m not going to tell others to vote for Neil though, I think residents are quite capable of making their own minds up about him and he’s more than capable of communicating his intentions and ideas to residents on their doorsteps.  What I would encourage residents to do is think very carefully before lending their votes to Michael Dickinson again.

Recently Michael said….

‘… I have helped deliver many improvements. Millbrook Primary School has been built and new play grounds have been opened. Freshbrook Community Centre has been re-opened and sport has been enhanced by the building of three new G3 Astroturf pitches at the Link Centre and a full-size G3 Astroturf pitch at Greendown School. On a larger scale, Lydiard Park restoration is complete and Shaw Forest is growing wonderfully. If you elect me I promise to oppose development on Hook Street and adjacent to Lydiard Park, campaign to bring more jobs to Swindon.’

….and I invite readers to consider whether Michael helped to ‘deliver’ any of them.  Him saying he did does not cut my cycnical mustard and I am very much reminded of a letter written in 2003 by Wendy Goodenough of Rushey Platt, who apparently had cause to regret voting for Michael within days of his election to Central:

I was horrified enough when I woke on Friday morning to discover that my decision to vote against my Labour councillor may have contributed to electing a Conservative council.

But only five days after voting for Michael Dickinson I discover that he had used the most despicable underhand tactics to put himself into a council seat.

I am not particularly religious, but I think to abuse the trust and office of a vicar is unforgivable behaviour.

I won’t be experimenting with my vote in the future. I don’t agree with the ethics and service-cutting tactics of the Tories and Mr Dickinson has proved that you can’t believe a word a Liberal Democrat says at least Labour were just incompetent.

Wendy Goodenough

Rushy Platt

Personally speaking, I think a man can leave the Liberal Democrat party but you can never take the Liberal Democrat out of the man.

Discussion topic now open here on the Talkswindon.org forum

We’re just a few weeks away from the 2011 local elections in Swindon and, as usual, the political rhetoric between opposing candidates is making for some interesting reading but,  unlike previous years, Swindon’s residents can keep themselves better informed of the various claims and counter claims being made by election candidates via Talkswindon’s Political Leaflet Library.

What I find particularly useful about having so many of Swindon’s political leaflets easily accessible in one place is the ability to read what’s been claimed by one candidate or councillor and then wander around the internet looking for evidence which either backs up or contradicts the claim.  With modern search engines, freedom of information services and easier-than-ever access to council officers getting at the truth gets easier, and quicker, all the time.  Which is why I find it so surprising that some politicians are still prepared to lie with impunity. Perhaps they think their lies won’t be noticed, or if they are, no one will investigate and comment on them.

Although there are Borough-wide incidents of political-porkies being told by all parties, one Swindon ward in particular is being subjected to a concentrated bombardment of political lies.  Eastcott Ward.  The last bastion of the Liberal Democrat Party in Swindon.

Eastcott ward has long been known as the Liberal Democrat stronghold in Swindon and, until recently, the 3 Eastcott seats in the Council Chamber were considered so ‘safe’ that other parties fielded  ‘paper candidates’ in Eastcott at elections.  Outside of Eastcott ward Swindon’s Lib Dems hold only one other council seat – Andy Harrison in Penhill ward.   Eastcotts current crop of Lib Dem councillors are: Cllr Dave Wood, Cllr Martin Wiltshire and Cllr Stand Pajak.  Cllr Wiltshire is standing down this May but we’ll return to the Lib Dems choice of replacement candidate later in the blog.

I spend some time talking to residents of Eastcott and although it is true to say that many of the people I’ve spoken to said that they felt the Lib Dems have been ‘doing a good job’ and that they felt well represented, when questioned as to why they believed that to be the case, and asked if they had any personal experience of the Lib Dems doing something for them, almost all of them said that they thought it to be true based on what the Lib Dems themselves had been telling them via leaflets and doorstep canvassing.

But what would Eastcott residents think if they were to learn that the Lib Dems haven’t been exactly honest with them on their own doorsteps, have lied deliberately in their leaflets and even, (in at least one instance I can identify),  lied about who they are in an attempt to ‘knobble’ a rival candidate?  If the Eastcott Lib Dems ‘reputation’ within the ward, and records of ‘delivery’ for the ward are as good as they claim, why do they feel the need resort to such shitty tactics and what does it say about their moral compasses once they have done so?

I think ‘Political Fear’ of Chris Watts, this years Labour candidate for Eastcott, is one reason the Lib Dems have lied and another would be:  ‘This is how we’ve always done things’.  Neither of these is easy to prove to a sceptical readership, but I will lay out a few easy-to-verify tit-bits and readers will be able to draw their own conclusions from them.

So lets start with Chris Watts:  Chris first ‘appeared’ on Swindon’s political radar in late 2009 when he put his analytical mind and determined temperament to good use scrutinising Swindon’s now infamous ‘Wifi’ scheme.  It is no exaggeration to say that Chris’s investigative efforts exposed several serving Borough Councillors as abject and habitual liars,  uncovered systemic incompetence at Directorship levels within the Borough Council and last, but definitely not least, that his own Liberal Democrat ward Councillors, were nowhere near as good at representing their residents as they say they were.  Chris didn’t go out of his way to make the Lib Dems look bad, it just became obvious in passing that they were really not as good as they look in their own leaflets.

A bitter-sweet day arrived for the Eastcott Lib Dems in  2010 when Chris announced he had joined the labour party.  Bitter for the Lib Dems in that they realised that Chris, an Eastcott resident of 14 years, was no longer just a well informed and well intentioned member of the public intent on exposing and talking about various public issues, but now seemed likely to take the next step towards seeking a mandate from his fellow residents to represent them formally in council.  Sweet for the Lib Dems in that they could now begin ‘officially’ begin attacking and undermining the person that had, just by doing what they should of been doing, exposed them as ineffectual by comparison.  For the first time, the publicity suits worn by Eastcotts three ‘Emperors’ were seen for what they are – transparent.

Having decided that he might run stand for election to Swindon Borough Council, Chris turned his attention to several long running issues within Eastcott ward, and a couple more which are of concern to the entire town, and it didn’t take long before the observational skills he’d honed scrutinising wifi detected that things in Eastcott were often not quite, if at all, as the Lib Dems described them and, even more surprising to him,  it quickly became apparent that the Lib Dems, worried that Chris might succeed where they have so long failed to make any progress, had begun saying things about Chris which were, and are, demonstrably untrue.

One instance of Eastcott’s Lib Dems promoting a deliberate lie is the curious case of the 2nd Kingshill Crossing.   Cllr’s Pajak and Woods have long used the prospect of a 2nd pedestrian crossing on Kingshill Road as a convenient campaigning device.  They know that, (as things stand now), the case for a second crossing on Kingshill Road is thin – in fact it was rejected again by the Council cabinet as recently as 2009 – but that did not stop Cllr Woods giving residents false-hope, (and the impression he was actually doing something useful), by asking them to sign his petition during his election campaign which, once he had been elected,  didn’t seem to be submitted to the council. In fact I’ve never heard of it again.

Later, when it became apparent to them that Chris Watts was also having a realistic and holistic look at the chronology and geography of the 2nd Kingshill Crossing, the Lib Dems realised that Kingshill residents were about to learn that, despite 13 years of Liberal Democrat campaign ‘noise’ on the issue, they had nothing to show for it apart from 3 very polished seats in the council chamber.  Urgent action would be needed to limit the potential damage to Eastcotts lib dems and, by copying what the Conservatives do elsewhere in Swindon,  they quickly formed KARA, the Kingshill Residents Association, thus moving themselves expediently away from the specific issue of the 2nd Kingshill Road crossing and stealthily trying to widen their political influence within the community.

KARA was created in September 2010 and its ‘About’ page, written by Nicky Sewell, chair of the Association,  says:

The ward councillor present at this meeting was none other than Nicky’s boyfriend – Cllr Dave Wood.   Their relationship is never mentioned in lib dem leaflets, which shouldn’t be an issue in itself, except that they seem to go to particular trouble to omit ever mentioning it in their printed literature or on the doorstep and, readers of Lib Dem leaflets will notice, how Nicky is described varies between leaflets – sometimes she is Nicky Sewell Chair of KARA and sometimes Nicky Sewell is a ‘Local campaigner’ – it all depends what ‘image’ they hope to project to residents.  Just to be clear though,  Nicky Sewell is the Chair of KARA and her boyfriend is Cllr Dave Wood, who also happens to be the vice chair of KARA.

This is all well and good I hear some readers say, ‘but when are we going to get to the lies?’ – so here they are.  Once the Eastcott Lib Dems had set up KARA, they turned their attention to dealing with Cllr Martin Wiltshire’s decision to step down from council, and who might replace him.  It didn’t come as any real surprise when Cllr Stan Pajak introduced Nicky Sewell, Cllr Wood’s girlfriend and Chair of the newly formed KARA as the Lib Dem 2011 candidate for Eastcott, and the first lie we’re going to discuss wasn’t long in coming .

Two months after Stan Pajak introduced Nicky Sewell as the Lib Dem candidate for Eastcott she appeared alongside him in a glossy A3 leaflet but is oddly referred to as “Local campaigner Nicky Sewell”.  There is no mention that she is the Chair of KARA, presumably because as chair of KARA she would be expected to know that the following statement made in this, her introductory leaflet, was a deliberate lie:

“You always know when there is an election coming up when Swindon Labour start coming to the door.  Normally they harmlessly copy the FOCUS Team’s issues, but this time they nearly wrecked the campaign for a second Kingshill crossing”.  Cllr Stan Pajak said:  “Labour’s candidate went in like a bull in a china shop and likely made the Council dig its heels in, undoing months of influence and persuasion. We must not let Labour’s party politics point scoring wreck the Crossing Campaign for another generation.”

A freedom of information request to Gwillam Lloyd (Head of Highway Management at Swindon Borough Council), confirmed that Councillor Pajak was telling Eastcott residents something that was demonstrably untrue.  Mr. Ceri Stephens, Performance Officer at Environment Regeneration & Community of Swindon Borough Council said:

“I can confirm that we can find no evidence of any correspondence or other communication with Christopher Watts on either the topic of Kingshill Crossing or any other topic”

In addition to publishing bare faced bullshit and confirming to residents that he had been running the Kingshill Crossing ‘campaign’ for an awfully long time with no result,  Cllr Pajak compounded his gaffe by accusing Chris Watt’s of  “party politics point scoring”.   I think the only point scored here was the own-goal scored by Stan when he decided that publishing a lie was preferable to telling the truth.  Perhaps he thought he could just explain it away if challenged or, as he’s done at least once before, try to divert blame for his own untrue statements onto his intended target.  Stan has ‘previous’ for this, and the public record shows that even when a priest objected to something Stan claimed about him in a May 2003 election ,  Stan simply implied that the priest was lying.

At the time the Swindon Advertiser reported:

In the Liberal Democrat publication, Focus, Coun Dickinson, who was elected as a Central ward councillor on May 1, used a picture of St Luke’s Parish Priest Father Leslie Pinfield under the headline “I’m backing Michael”.

The publicity material quoted the priest praising the work of Coun Dickinson in the fight to clean up prostitution in the area. Father Pinfield denies saying this. But because Coun Dickinson was only a candidate at the time when the material was distributed, his agent is being held responsible.

Les Horn, chairman of Broad Street Community Council, was so amazed at what he read that he wrote a letter to Father Pinfield.

Part of the priest’s reply read: “We did indeed have a discussion about the problem of prostitution in the neighbourhood, as I have done with many other people of all political persuasions. I am afraid that the rest of it is made up.”

But Coun Pajak said: “This is not something that worries me. I believe Father Leslie said what he did we met him on the corner of the street and he sanctioned Michael.

“This is nothing untoward it’s just the interpretation and the fact we won the seat.

“As far as I’m concerned there is nothing to worry about because people are making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Stan may not be worried by a mere trifle like the truth, but even a molehill will occasionally trip the daintiest of fork-tongued political tap-dancers.

Almost inevitably though, we must take a quick look at what Cllr Dave Wood, Nicky Sewell’s boyfriend and Vice Chairman of KARA, has been up to as he tries to hide his girlfriends election campaign activities, or lack of them, from the scrutiny of Chris Watts.   It seems that late in 2010 the issue of replacing the long-gone post box in the wall of the long-gone Old Post Office in Clifton Street was raised by a Kingshill resident at a KARA meeting.

Oddly, (or maybe it’s only odd if you don’t know who is pulling the strings at KARA), the subject of the Clifton Street Post Box then featured prominently in an Eastcott Liberal Democrat leaflet in which they claimed credit for lobbying the Royal Mail to have the post box re-instated.   On the basis of this leaflet Eastcott residents were left in little doubt that the Lib Dems were already ‘fighting hard against tiers of institutionalised bureaucracy’ at the Royal Mail to make it happen.  Unfortunately, it seems that the Lib Dems hadn’t bothered to actually bother contacting the Royal Mail and the Royal Mail therefore remained, (until Chris Watts contacted their Collections Delivery Manager to find out how the re-instatement was progressing), blissfully unaware that the issue even existed.

Political translation: The issue of the Clifton Street Post Box was being treated as a handy one for the Eastcott Lib Dems to whip out just prior to local elections, but was then to be left, unresolved, until it became electorally useful again.  Just like the 13 year old Kingshill Crossing Campaign.

Residents of Clifton Street might have faced a similar decade+ of ‘campaigning’ had Chris Watts not begun a phone and email conversation with the Royal Mail Collections Performance Manager in Reading and genuinely got the ball rolling and, in early March 2011, Chris received the following message from the Royal Mail:

Chris,

I have had a call from Dave Ward who tells me he works from Swindon Borough Council and have arranged to meet him at the site Monday at 10:00. You are welcome to come along if you wish.

Regards

Chris was pleased to announce in a leaflet that he had been invited to a site meeting in Clifton Street with the Collections manager and a ‘representative’ from Swindon Borough Council to discuss the re-instatement of the post box, but the good news was soon eclipsed by bad.

Chris then received another email from the Royal Mail which cancelled the site visit.  He telephoned the collections manager and discovered that ‘Mr Ward’ was actually Councillor Dave Wood who had, after reading a copy of Chris Watt’s leaflet, contacted the Royal Mail manager and put the verbal boot into her, suggesting forcefully that she had nothing to do with Chris Watts because, as the Labour candidate for Eastcott,  his interest was purely political.   I believe that Cllr Woods, even at this stage of the game and whilst expending  considerable effort in denouncing Chris Watts for being an election candidate, Davey Boy still omitted to mention that he was a serving Liberal Democrat Councillor for Eastcott.  Bad boy Dave.

Thanks to Cllr Woods party political masquerade, the site meeting remains cancelled, and the issue of the Clifton Street Post Box is, for the time being, dead in the water.   Royal Mail managers are notoriously wary of becoming embroiled in politic scandal, (for good reason), and when politicians start lying about who they are to get one up on each other,  then a scandal is not going to be far behind.

In summary then, residents of Eastcott might wish to ask any Lib Dems who knock on their door prior to next months local elections the following questions:

Why is Kingshill Road still without a 2nd pedestrian crossing after 13 years of Lib Dem campaigning?

Why haven’t the Eastcott Lib Dems come clean about who runs KARA?

If Eastcott’s Lib Dems are so sure of their electoral support within the ward, why do they feel the need to lie about Chris Watts in their leaflets?

Why did Lib Dem Cllr Dave Woods make the Royal Manager believe that he worked from Swindon Council but chose not to tell her that he was actually an Eastcott Lib Dem Councillor?

What happened to the 200 signature ’2nd Kingshill Crossing’ petition Cllr Wood was promoting during his 2009 election campaign? – it seems that it was never deposited with or presented to the Borough Council after Cllr Woods was re-elected.

Personally, I would not reward a candidate with my vote if I knew, or thought that they had lied to me.  Neither would I do so if I thought their colleagues had lied for their joint electoral benefit and I take particular exception to political lies being pushed through my letterbox and repeated to my face on my doorstep.  I expect many residents of Eastcott might well feel the same way which is why I’m happy to spend a Sunday afternoon sharing my knowledge with them.

Having got to know Chris Watts a little whilst scrutinising the wifi, I know he is honest, thorough and determined.  I have little doubt that he will do exactly what it says on the tin if given the chance and Eastcott would be well served by him if it chooses to elect him.

Having observed Eastcotts Lib Dems in action, through the media and the public record I find increasing amounts of evidence, (some of it even authored by them), which suggests that they’re nowhere near as good as they say they are and that their moral compass points towards ‘selfish’.  I’m of the opinion that a Lib Dem pledge in Eastcott is as trustworthy as one from their leader, Nick Clegg, and their claim that they are “Not in a coalition locally but are able to influence” is risible but, changing the position of just one word makes this phrase: “In a coalition locally but are not able to influence” – completely believable.

I am not surprised that Eastcotts Lib Dems are terrified of residents getting a proper look at Chris Watts in action, because they might decide that they want a couple more just like him.

Make your own minds up.  Have a look at Chris’s 600+ postings on the www.talkswindon.org forum , see what his own blog says and learn how he’s approaching the 2nd Kingshill Crossing issue on the Kingshill Area Road Safety Campaign website.

Whatever you do though,  please don’t just take a liberal Democrats word at face value.   Remember that these are exactly the same people who thought it was okay to tell lies about St Luke’s Parish Priest Father Leslie Pinfield and then call him a liar when he challenged what they’d said about him…

…so, if you feel inclined to believe what Eastcott Lib Dems say about Chris Watts, why not ask Chris directly so you can hear his answer for yourself.

It’s your vote, and you’re entitled to use it with a clear conscience.

Aslo published on the Talkswindon froum here: http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?topic=7435.0

I read the leader of Swindon Council’s recent lecture in the Swindon Advertiser and concluded that his regular appearances in print remind me very much of a circus clown.

Bluh is a clown.  He flaps his oversized shoes around the ring once in a while, honks his comedy horn now and again, falls over a lot, gets even the simplest of tasks wrong and then remonstrates the audience for laughing at him.

I’m in the audience, as is my wife, my son and my Father.  Each of us is a member of a captive audience at a show it isn’t enjoying, would rather not see and certainly doesn’t want to be forced into paying for, and yet we are forced to anyway.

Yes, Clowncillor Bluh and his honking, squeaking, flat-footed carnival of Clowncillors have performed their act all over the Borough of Swindon, setting fire to buckets of cash,  getting their feet stuck in buckets of sticky stuff, whacking tax-payers and service users upside-the-head the head with policy planks and generally causing more problems than they cure.

There aren’t many things Bluh’s gang can’t quickly turn into an expensive comedy of errors, but even I was surprised when they managed to fail only 6 of their 50 Promises, having apparently delivered 44 of them quite successfully until, that is,  Bonzo decided to snatch a comedy moment from the jaws of near success and turn it into another farce.  Bonzo dug deep into the cavernous pockets of his comedy pantaloons, retrieved his Clownculator and, after dividing several of the original promises into entirely new promises, hilariously turned 50 promises into 56.  By subtracting the 6 failed ‘extra’ promises from the brand new total of 56, Bonzo and da boyz, ( via the miracle of Clown economics), would now claim that they had delivered 50 promises after all.

Of the 50 promises, Promise 22 recently became very interesting  because fairly large amounts of money appear to have been spent pursuing it in very odd ways :

Promise 22: “We will revitalise our sports and leisure facilities in particular bring forward plans to replace or modernise the Oasis and Link centre.”

Progress:  Achieved.

I expect to blog something about it later this week but in the meantime I’ll finish off on this last point:  Bonzo Bluh was spot-on when he said….

“Honesty and trust are two words that many people do not associate with politicians”

….because I don’t associate either of them with him.

To all intents and purposes the project appeared to be completely stalled and public attention turned to the subject of the ‘lost’ £400,000 and who, if anyone, the Council would pursue as it tried to get our money back.   Significant heat and light was produced by the spectacle of Garry Perkins, the deputy leader of Swindon Borough Council, (also a Director of Digital City), unsuccessfully trying to lay the blame for the financial collapse of Digital City on members of the public.  North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson recently described Councillor Perkin’s claims as ‘nonsense’.

Never afraid of making bold, (and all too often inaccurate), claims, Cllr Perkins then promised that a ‘new investor’ investor had been found and that the £400,000 would be repaid in a matter of weeks.

Yesterday, 3rd March 2011, newly published Council documents revealed that the council appears to be letting both the directors of Digital City, Rikki Hunt & Garry Perkins, completely off the hook as far as recovering the public loan money from either man, and instead has decided that:

The Council therefore needs to explore options for securing additional investment to ensure that the Council’s loan to Digital City is repaid

At 02.00hrs this morning Companies House records showed that Swindon Borough Council were still a minority shareholder of Digital City (UK) Ltd, but it appears to be behaving as if it it owns or controls the company.  To be clear, Swindon Borough Council is a separate legal entity from Digital City UK Ltd and, as I understand it, the Council should be seeking to recover 6 months worth of unpaid loan installments and the outstanding loan capital of £400,000 from the Directors of the company.   Had the council ‘secured’ the loan by registering a charge against the assets of Digital City in 2009, (something it had stated it would do – and then didn’t),  at least some of the defaulted loan would be recoverable by seizing assets.  The council forgot or, to be far more specific, Hitesh Patel, the Accidental Director of Digital City and also Swindon Borough Councils Director of Business Transformation, simply failed to register the legal charge within the time limit set out in law.  SBC’s legal eagle, Stephen Taylor,  recently tried to pass this failure off as a ‘typographical error’ instead of simply admitting that the Corporate Director level of the council is riddled with incompetents.

I think the Council should be pursuing Garry Perkins & Rikki Hunt for the £400,000 (plus missed interest payments), but instead seems intent on spending yet more public money to keep this scheme alive,  and Garry Perkins out of court.  Perhaps this is why, for several months,  Perkins has been hysterically babbling that a  ‘new investor’ for Digital definitely exists.  Yesterdays publication of council documents make his claim seem slightly more credible today than they seemd last week.

I have no doubt that Garry would have very releived to learn that:

The investor is demanding a ‘confidentiality and non-disclosure’ agreement before it will enter discussions with the council.

For its part, the council says

“A potential investor is interested in investing in a high-speed wireless network for Swindon and is seeking to work with the Council on exploring options and approaches for this to happen. This company has the appropriate expertise and track record as well as the financial security to make the level of investment needed. The potential investor is, therefore, requesting that the Council enter into a ‘confidentiality and non-disclosure’ agreement so that both parties can enter into confidential commercial discussions”

For me, this is where the charade falls apart.  I don’t believe any sensible investor would look twice at Digital City.  It owns almost nothing of commercial value, has not completed a fraction of the promised wifi network,  has only 20 customers paying a maximum of £9.99 each month and has been defaulting on its £400,000 to Swindon Borough Council for the last 5 months.  The company is obviously fucked – so why the confidentiality agreement?

The Confidentiality agreement:

The confidentiality agreement serves several purposes, not least of which would be to give the council a ‘legitimate’,  (in its view), reason not to answer a Freedom of information request I recently submitted to it, of which 2 of its 11 questions are quoted below:

10a. Will Stuart MacKeller be reviewing the investment/loan, or other financial arrangements, agreements and understandings with Digital City (UK) Ltd, Avidity Consulting and aQovia Ltd ? In all instances: Now the loan has been defaulted on, what steps will Mr MacKellar be taking in his capacity as 151 Officer to recover the outstanding £400,000 loan and missed interest payments due from Digital City (UK) Ltd or other individuals and organisations?

11. Has, or will, the Head of Audit at Swindon Borough Council, be asked or required to audit the material facts of the WiFi update  report (as presented to Scrutiny on Monday 7th February 2011) including, but not limited to, the circumstances surrounding the registration or non-registration of a charge against the assets of Digital City (UK) Ltd, the non payment of interest payments by Digital City (UK) Ltd

12. What steps is Swindon Borough Council taking to establish why Mr Hunt resigned as Director of Avidity Consulting Ltd and who is now in legal control of the 30% share of Digital City (UK) Ltd held by Avidity Consulting Ltd after Mr John Richard Hunt resigned and was replaced by his wife, Mrs Laura Hunt?

Secondly, this confidentiality agreement will effectively neuter all aspects of  Council Scrutiny of every aspects of the WiFiasco while it is in force.  This will be especially useful for an administration that has already declared it wishes to prevent public scrutiny of ‘deals’ it wishes to make in the future.

Thirdly, the confidentiality agreement will be in force until just after the local elections in May, (only 8 weeks away).  How convenient is that for Councillor Perkins?, Garry will be able to conduct his election campaign without answering any awkward questions about his Directorship at Digital City, the missing £400,000 or what’s happening now. “Sorry my old mate, I can’t talk about that, it’s confidential Do’ntyerknow”

But, I hear you ask: “This is a lot of trouble to go to if the intention is to save political blushes, avoid the embarrassing spectacle of Swindon Council taking its Deputy leader to court to recover £400,000 of public money and last, but not least,  give Cllr Perkins an unfair advantage over his political rivals in the May local elections?” and normally I would agree with you, but I’d ask you to consider the following bit of semi-recent history and then reflect on current wifi’asco related events.

In 2007 the last Labour government funded an electronic voting pilot/trial in Swindon and on polling day voters were able to vote electronically from 64 locations in Swindon.

Each of the 64 polling stations in Swindon was equipped with between 2 and 10 laptop computers and connectivity at each polling stations was provided by either wireless technology,  (WiMax), or BT broadband.

I understand that 8 polling stations had to use a BT Broadband connection because their locations were unsuitable for Wimax connectivity but the remaining 56 polling stations were equipped with Wimax connectivity.

At the time, there was quite a bit of news coverage of the e-voting trials but that gradually subsided and interest in Swindon Councils Wimax  network waned until it had faded almost completely into the background to the point when nobody seemed to remember our Wimax system even existed when Digital City’s ‘new’ scheme was being hailed by the council as the best, most ‘innovative’ and ‘unique’ thing to arrive in Swindon since Mr Hovis started slicing his bread.

At some point though, someone at Swindon Borough Council apparently remembered it already owned a Wimax system – possibly when they realised the Digital City Scheme bore the flightworthiness characteristics of the Hindenburg – pulled the dust covers off and started pumping serious amounts of taxpayers cash into it.  About £98,000 to be reasonably precise, plus the annual licence fees the Council is now paying to Ofcom – all for a  system it doesn’t seem to want to talk about.

If I’m right about this, Swindon Borough Council already owns a Borough-Wide Wimax Hi Speed wireless internet system which comprises up to 64 fully functioning Wimax transmitter/receivers mounted on 64 separate buildings.  Make no mistake, this is a large industrial grade high-speed wireless internet system which is well-suited to being expanded upon and used as the ‘spine’ of a fully functioning Borough-wide wifi mesh.

At present, members of the public cannot access this Wimax systeme because it is a high-speed ‘point to point’ system, (this type of system is often used where cables or fibre optics can’t easily be put), which delivers internet access to singular points,  (imagine shining a laser at a particular point and you’ll get the principle), but it is from each of these individual points that a properly open and publicly accessible conventional wifi system can branch out, (using the same lamp post mounted transmitters used by Digital City in Highworth), along the streets of Swindon.

I also suspect it is no coincidence that the Council intends to spend £1,200,000 (yep, £1.2 million), ‘upgrading’ lamp post in the Borough.  An odd thing to do when it is cutting jobs, services and everything else it can to the bone.

In conclusion then, when the Council says it it looking for investors in the Wifi scheme, I humbly ask that readers consider the above and reflect on whether the council is seeking investors solely for the failed Digital City Wifi’asco, or is actually using the heat, light and smoke generated by the WiFi’asco to disguise a much bigger purpose than any of us had previously supposed:  That the next ‘deal’ will probably include the much larger but-not-much-discussed Wimax scheme, £1.2 million worth of new infrastructure and last, and most definitely least, the remnants of the failed Digital City scheme in Highworth.

For what it’s worth, I think the confidentiality agreement is intended to achieve so many objectives, (mostly political), that it will almost certainly fail to achieve most if not all of them.

Just days after publishing ‘More WiFi Lies Busted: Vindication & Exoneration For the ‘Swindon 4′ I can reveal that Swindons Conservative councillors are already re-writing recent history as they attempt to escape the consequences of their smear campaign against members of the public.

In the Blog mentioned above I said:

“The smear campaign reached a critical point when, on the 7th of February 2011, Councillor Perkins told Swindon Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee that  West Lothian Council had received vexatious emails and/or phone calls from a resident(s) of Swindon,  and that these ‘vexatious’ communications had convinced BathGate to terminate their involvement with  Digital City (UK) Ltd.

It is my understanding that Councillor Perkins then told the committee members that he had submitted a Freedom of Information request to West Lothian Council to find out who had authored/made the ‘vexatious’ communications.”

Yesterday it became apparent that Councillor Andrew Bennett, a Conservative member of the Swindon Borough Council Scrutiny Committee, was hurriedly telling anyone who would listen that Deputy Leader of Swindon Borough Council & Director of Digital City (UK) Ltd Cllr Garry Perkins had not claimed that members of the public were responsible for Enterprising Bathgates rejection of Digital City, but had instead told the scrutiny committee that the rejection was caused by ‘media coverage’ of the WiFi’asco.

Luckily for us, Des Morgan and Chris Watts make copious and accurate notes which have proved to be more reliable than the ‘official’ minutes of Scrutiny meetings which, in the drafting process, are often subjected to political ‘modification’.  Des and Chris are both clear on what they heard, and on what they recorded in writing and both their accounts consistently concur in that Rod Bluh, Rikki Hunt & Garry Perkins referred to ‘external interference‘ in Digital City’s Bathgate Bid no less than 6 times during the meeting.   I hardly need point out that ‘external interference’ is very different from ‘media coverage’.

It is also recorded and remembered by several people present that Cllr Perkins made much noise about submitting a freedom of information request to West Lothian Council about the ‘external interference’.

It is a matter of public record that only ONE Freedom of Information Request has been received by West Lothian Council regarding the ‘external interference’ frequently refereed to by Rod Bluh, Rikki Hunt and Garry Perkin, and it said:

Please could you supply me with details of any contacts from the following individuals and any councillor or officer at West Lothain Council with regard to a borough wide wi-fi project or Digital City Uk or Rikki Hunt between 1st September 2010 and 31st January 2011. This should request covers any written or email communications, particularly the time and date, and any transcripts or recordings if you have them.

The individuals are:

Chris Watts
Geoff Reid
Des Morgan
Steve Wakefield

The above request looks very specific and very personal and does not suggest that the author of the request was at all interested in ‘media coverage’.

Further to this, despite Enterprising BathGate and West Lothian Council quickly and transparently publishing their reasons for rejecting Digital City (UK) Ltd, Councillor Bennett is now promoting the notion that the rejection letter is a ‘cover-up’ for the real reason for rejection which was, according to Councillor Bennett, because of vexatious emails and communications received by Enterprising BathGate, from members of the public.

I probably don’t need to spend much time getting forensic on Cllr Bennett, but I will point out that his statements appear to be mutually exclusive.  They can’t both be right, so I’m left wondering whether he is paranoid, particularly stupid or involved in promoting yet another wifi lie at someone else’s behest?

Enterprising Bathgate were very clear on their reasons for rejection, and for most observers of the WiFi’asco the reasons will seem horribly familiar:

Regular visitors to my Blog and the Talkswindon Forum will already be familiar with the on-going saga of Swindons WiFi’asco but new arrivals here might appreciate a brief re-cap before I discuss the latest developments which prove to me, once again, that some Swindon Borough Councillors and one Swindon Member of Parliament will go to extraordinary lengths to protect their political ‘reputations’.

In 2009 Swindon Borough Council made a loan facility of £450,000 available to a company called Digital City (UK) Ltd so it could provide a ‘Borough Wide’ Wireless internet connection to the residents of Swindon.  From day one the project was plagued by incompetent management, a lack of council supervision and diligence over its ‘investment’ which borders on criminal negligence and an official attitude of belligerence towards anyone publicly scrutinising the project.

By April 2010, Digital City (UK) Ltd had drawn £400,000 of the loan facility, (taxpayers money), but had not completed it’s ‘pilot’ in the small town of Highworth.  Although Digital City repeatedly indicated it intended to continue  ‘rolling out’ the project across the entire Borough, it never did.  Spring turned into summer and summer turned into Autumn but no new WiFi transmitters appeared on any lamp posts and John ‘Rikki’ Hunt, CEO of Digital City (UK) Ltd had all but vanished from the streets of Swindon.

Then, in November 2010, Mr Hunt cropped up in Bathgate, a small town in Scotland.  It seemed that upon hearing that Bathgate was to be the first Scottish town to deliver a BID, (Business Improvement District), and that a reasonably sized chunk of cash was to be sprinkled upon the town, Rikki had hot-footed it up North to do a feasibility study – i.e, he went up there to check that the lamposts were metal and round, had free electricity and that there were no pesky hills in the landscape*

*Apparently Mr Hunts version of WiFi does not work very well unless the landscape is billiard-table flat, but, as all Swindonians are already aware,  the Borough of Swindon is nothing but hills.  Most of Swindons ‘area’ names:  Gorsehill, Penhill, Kingshill, Taw Hill, Victoria Hill, Windmill Hill, Blunsdon Hill, Toothill, etcetera, etcetera, bloody etcetera, tend to give the game away.

Anyway, Rikki Hunt trotted off to Bathgate in November 2010 and I asked, (at the time):  Will ‘Rikki Fix It’ For Bathgate WiFi Before Work In Swindon Even Starts?

November 2010 was also the month that Digital City (UK) Ltd began defaulting on its loan repayments to Swindon Borough Council.  Deputy Leader of the council, (and himself a Director of Digital City (UK) Ltd),  Cllr Garry Perkins knew in December 2010 that his company, Digital City (UK) Ltd, was not making its loan repayments to the council  yet he continued to tell people and reporters that it was making loan payments on time Busted, and Hoist upon his own petard Perkins eventually admitted his deceit when he was forced tp apologise to Des Morgan, (a fellow WiFi scrutineer and member of the Talkswindon Forum),  for deliberately misleading him.

But,  if a Deputy Leader of a Council deliberately deceiving people wasn’t already bad enough, Cllr Perkins cabinet colleague – Cllr Keith Williams and North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson, apparently decided that wanted to get some WiFi’asco action for themselves and both used early morning January appearances on BBC Radio Wiltshire to put the boot into local businessman, WiFi scrutineer, Talkswindon member and my friend, Chris Watts.     Chris had the temerity to not only scrutinise Rod Bluh’s WiFi’asco but, after many months of aggression, obfuscation, arrogant dismissiveness and sneering contempt from Rod Bluh and his Bluhnderbirds,  was so disgusted by his treatment at the hands of Swindons Conservative Council administration that he eventually joined the labour party.

After Chris joined the Labour party, Justin Tomlinson MP lost no time in claiming that Chris’s criticism of the WiFi’aso was entirely politically motivated. (Tomlinson conveniently ignored the inconvenient fact that Chris had sought cross-party support in his scrutiny of the WiFi’asco and joined the labour party many months after his scrutiny of wifi had begun).

Conservative  Councillor Keith Williams was next to ascend to the pulpit of local radio, from where he comprehensively slandered Chris Watts by accusing him of  ‘industrial espionage’ before really getting ‘into his groove’ by repeating the falsehood that Councillor Perkins was forced to apologise for:

“The loan hasn’t been defaulted on yet, and interest is being regularly paid”

At this point in time Cllrs Garry Perkins and Keith Williams, aided and abetted by Justin Tominson MP, were busily engaged in laying the blame for the failure of their wifi’asco at the feet of Chris Watts, Myself & Des Morgan.  Instead of answering our legitimate questions about the wifi project honestly they orchestrated a smear campaign against us and, somewhat bizarrely, decided to include Cllr Steve Wakefield – a  Labour Councillor and former Mayor of the Borough – in their despicable designs.

The smear campaign reached a critical point when, on the 7th of February 2011, Councillor Perkins told Swindon Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee that  West Lothian Council had received vexatious emails and/or phone calls from a resident(s) of Swindon,  and that these ‘vexatious’ communications had convinced BathGate to terminate their involvement with  Digital City (UK) Ltd.

It is my understanding that Councillor Perkins then told the committee members that he had submitted a Freedom of Information request to West Lothian Council to find out who had authored/made the ‘vexatious’ communications.

In order to confirm that Councillor Perkins really was ‘hunting down’ the identities of his WiFi’asco saboteurs, and wasn’t bullshitting again, I  subsequently submitted a Freedom of Information request of my own to West Lothian Council.  I did not have to wait long for their response. They told me:

West Lothian Council received a Freedom of Information Request relating to correspondence between Chris Watts, Geoff Reid, Des Morgan, Steve Wakefield and the council concerning Digital City (UK) Ltd and the Bathgate WiFi scheme on 11/02/2011.

The request was as follows:

Dear Sir,

Please could you supply me with details of any contacts from the following individuals and any councillor or officer at West Lothain Council with regard to a borough wide wi-fi project or Digital City Uk or Rikki Hunt between 1st September 2010 and 31st January 2011. This should request covers any written or email communications, particularly the time and date, and any transcripts or recordings if you have them.

The individuals are:

Chris Watts
Geoff Reid
Des Morgan
Steve Wakefield

So far so good, Councillor Perkins seems to been honest about his claim to have made enquiries, but what did West Lothian Council say in response to the above enquiry?

West Lothian Council has not received any communications from the individuals named above relating to the Bathgate Wi-Fi project.

So, there you have it. From the horses mouth.  West Lothian Council received no communications whatsoever from myself, Chris Watts, Des Morgan or Steve Wakefield.  But the story does not stop there, in fact it rapidly gets a whole lot shittier….

…because, in an answer to a different Freedom of Information request, we discovered that BathGate Bid had written to Digital City (UK) Ltd in December 2010  outlining their reasons for not using Digital City (UK) Ltd.  I, Chris Watts and Des Morgan know why BathGate decided not to use Digital City (UK) Ltd to ‘wifi’ their town, and I can state with certainty that Councillor Garry Perkins has comprehensively misled the public, as well as Swindon Borough Council, as to what those reasons really were.  I think we’ll give Cllr Perkins one final opportunity to come clean and tell the truth before we do it for him. Again.

Councillor Perkins knew in December 2010 that Bathgate were not going to use his company, (Digital City (UK) Ltd).  His company had been fully appraised as to the reasons why they would not be invited to tender for the work, so one should be forgiven for wondering why he then chose to tell Swindon Borough Council,  (of which he is the deputy leader), that members of the public vexatiously contacting BathGate were to blame  for the failure to obtain a contract in Bathgate, and it was members of the public who were therefore responsible for causing the entire WiFi Scheme in Swindon to stall.

Councillor Perkins, Deputy Leader of Swindon Borough Council and Director of Digital City (UK) Ltd, has knowingly misled the Council on multiple occasions and he has knowingly misled the public on multiple occasions.

Councillor Perkins has allowed, possibly even encouraged other Councillors and one MP to repeat untruthful statements about members of the public which he knew to be incorrect, but chose not to correct them at the time and then, shamefully repeated the same untruthful statements under cover of the privileged status of Council meetings.

Councillor Perkins has already broken the Code of Conduct in at least 7 different ways and, in my opinion, has brought Swindon Borough Council into serious disrepute.  I do not intend to raise a complaint against him yet, but other readers might and they can find the relevant complaint form here.
In the meantime I’m giving Councillor Perkins, Councillor Williams and Justin Tomlinson MP a short time in which they are invited to apologise of their own volition. This ‘short period’ will end when we decide to publish the genuine reasons Bathgate rejected Digital City (UK) Ltd.

From then on in, if the lying and smearing continue, it will be gloves off and, as Alice Cooper so eloquently put it:  “No More Mr Nice Guy”

* A forum discussion topic exists here on the Talkswindon forum – all are welcome to join the discussion.

They used to say a week was a long time in politics but that statement was rendered obsolete the moment the internet went live.  These days, an hour in politics can seem like an eternity to politicians who, having spun a line, then have to wait nervously until they find out if they’ve got away with it. Often they don’t.

In mid January 2011 I advanced the opinion that Digital City (UK) Ltd had already defaulted on its loan repayments to Swindon Borough Council and by the end of January I was discussing the loan default as if it were confirmed.  My opinions didn’t find sympathetic ears with Swindons Conservatives though, and Cllr Garry Perkins, (Deputy leader of the council & director of Digital City (uk) Ltd),  lost no time in trying to convince anyone who would listen to him that his company had not defaulted on repaying the loan his council had made to it.

But the truth was far different from the version Cllr Perkins was spinning publicly.  The truth was…that Cllr Perkins’ company had not made any loan repayments to Swindon Borough Council since the 4th of November 2010, a fact which Councillor Perkins would have been doubly aware of because not only is he a Director of Digital City (UK) Ltd, he is also the Deputy Leader of the Council and, (as if that wasn’t already enough),  in his role as Deputy Leader of the council he had recently, with Hitesh Patel, co-authored a ‘wifi update’ report which contained the following paragraph:

3.2       Loan repayment update

Three Interest payments on the loan have not been made and they were due on the 4^th November 2010, 16^th December 2010 and 20^th January 2011.

Busted, and Hoist upon his own petard Perkins eventually admitted his deceit when he apologised to Des Morgan, (a member of the Talkswindon Forum),  for misleading him.

Cllr Perkins knew in December 2010 that his company, (Digital City (UK) Ltd, was not making its loan repayments to the council of which he is the deputy leader, yet he was telling people and reporters that it was making loan payments on time.  Naughty and not clever.

But, as if Cllr Perkins obvious deceit wasn’t bad enough, his fellow cabinet member Cllr Keith Williams and North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson decided that want to get some action – both apparently wanting to use appearances on BBC Radio Wiltshire to put the boot into local businessman Chris Watts.     Chris had the temerity to not only criticise Rod Bluh’s WiFi’asco but, after many months of aggression, obfuscation, arrogant dismissiveness and sneering contempt from Rod Bluh and his Bluhnderbirds,  eventually joined the labour party.

Judging Chris Watts to have blasphemed in the worst possible way, Justin Tomlinson MP lost no time in claiming Chris’ criticism of the WiFi’aso was politically motivated.   Cllr Williams was next to ascend to the pulpit of local radio, from where he delivered a sermon of slander mightily upon Chris Watts, smiting his blasphemy and exposing the industrial espionage wreaked upon the Bathgate/Digital City Union by none other than the WiFi Devil, incarnate as Wattsy himself, horns ‘an all,  so help him God and may he be turned to a pillar of shite….

…and thus, after a bit of wandering around the political desert 8 or nine paragraphs we eventually reach the point of this blog post:

Swindons Conservatives have been briefing anyone who will listen that Chris Watts is responsible for preventing Digital City (UK) Ltd from getting it’s money-sucking straw anywhere near a sizeable pot of regeneration money in West Lothian.

Swindons Conservatives are saying that the Swindon WiFi’asco has stalled because they have been prevented from  getting their hands on Bathgates regeneration money.

While it is true that some who have been following the WiFiasco  in the papers and via the Talkswindon forum have corresponded with West Lothian Council.  I do not believe that Chris Watts is one of them.  I would like to see any evidence Councillors Williams & Perkins have to the contrary and I would like to know why Justin Tomlinson felt able to put the boot in.  Personally I think they are worried that Chris might stand as a Labour candidate in Swindons Eastcott ward in May this year, and their attacks on him genuinely are politically motivated.

As if they haven’t already, (as usual), compounded their earlier errors and made things worse for themselves, Swindons Tory’s are determined to put themselves back on the National media stage as they try to ‘hunt down like a dog’ the person that ‘Buggered Bathgate’ for them. They claim to have submitted an Freedom of Information request to West Lothian Council to find out what was said, and who said it.   Well, I can answer 50% of their questions, i.e, what was said by one person but they’ll get shit-all from me regarding peoples identities.

What follows is a partial extract of a covering email and the correspondents letter to West Lothian Council.   I have called our correspondent Roderick.

Roderick told me:

“I sent my e-mail when I realised that a “WiFi Feasibility Study” contract had been awarded to Digital City as I thought that the first stage of the con trick was in place and wanted to stop it.

You may like to know and perhaps share with TalkSwindon that I am not political, certainly not Labour and I have never met or spoken to anyone in the Swindon Labour group.

I do not live in Swindon and have more connections to Bathgate than Swindon, so obviously my loyalties lie with the citizens of Bathgate who will now not have to pay for anyone’s foreign holiday homes or expensive lifestyles. At the same time I want the citizens of Swindon to get their money back but from the estates of those that took it, not from another town.”

Dear XXXXXX at Enterprising Bathgate

I note that Bathgate commissioned Get Signal Ltd to carry out a Wi-Fi feasibility study for the town centre regeneration project. I also note that a “Focus Event” was due to be held during early August.

As an interested party, from some distance away, I am very keen to know what the outcomes for this feasibility study and Focus Event were. Perhaps you can direct me to a web-site where I can read about them or if not, give me some information on the project?

The reason that I ask, is that Mr Rikki Hunt of Get Signal Ltd / Digital City / aQuovia who have been commissioned by Swindon Borough Council to install a pilot Wi-Fi project for the Swindon Borough town of Highworth by April 2010 and then the remainder of Swindon by September 2010 has failed to meet his targets.

The pilot project at Highworth, by Mr Hunt’s own admission, is still not complete and his latest estimate, given on BBC Radio Wiltshire yesterday, was that it will take another year before the Swindon project is complete. A full one year later than his original one year estimate.

It seems strange that Get Signal felt competent to carry out a Wi-fi feasibility study in Bathgate when, also by Mr. Hunt’s public admission, the Highworth pilot project revealed to them the basic physics of Wi-Fi transmission and several practical aspects of street furniture i.e electromagnetic waves will not go around or up and down hills, nor will they penetrate metal films or beams used in buildings. Also that they struggle to penetrate thick stone walls. Get Signal Ltd also admitted to not understanding that some street lights do not have an electrical power supply 24 hours per day. Yesterday Mr. Hunt also said, on BBC radio that they did not know that they could not put screws into concrete lamp posts and that installing an electrical cable up a concrete lamp post was difficult.

As Get Signal, Digital City and aQuovia are start up companies with no history of Wi-Fi installation I am not surprised at these late revelations.

Perhaps you would like to review what the citizens of Swindon think of this project by following the links below and then review Bathgate’s relationship with Mr. Hunt, Get Signal,  Digital City Ltd and aQuovia.

http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?board=207.0

http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?topic=6361.0

Best Regards,

XXXXXXX

I understand ‘Roderick’ is not the only concerned member of the public to correspond with West Lothian Council.  Should others wish to share their correspondence with the wider world, (anonymously),  please email leaks@talkswindon.org

In the meantime, readers may be interested to learn that, because I think it would be interesting to know how the Swindon Conservatives ‘Dog Hunting’ is going, I though it might be fun to see who and how they’re going about it:

FOI requests received by West Lothian Council Regarding Digital City (UK) Ltd & the Bathgate WiFi Project

‘Bathgate-Gate’ – As Swindon’s Conservatives indulge in a replacement for Fox hunting, are they also bringing a new twist to the phrase ‘Hunt Saboteur’?

A forum discussion topic is now open here all are welcome.

FOI requests received by West Lothian Council Regarding Digital City (UK) Ltd & the Bathgate WiFi Project

Submitted by:  Geoff Reid

11th February 2011

A forum discussion topic is now open here all are welcome

I’ll cut straight to the chase with this blog post.

Rikki Hunt, Chief executive of Digital City (UK) Ltd and it’s parent company Avidity Consulting Ltd, (Avidity Consulting owns 30% of Digital City), has  transferred control of ‘his’ 30% share of Digital City (UK) Ltd to his wife  Laura.   He effected the change of Directorship on December the 31st 2010.

Since that point the cabinet of Swindon Borough Council has been falling over itself to blame the failure of their WiFi’asco onto anybody except themselves.

Cabinet members, pathologically incapable of accepting any blame for the potential loss of £400,000 of public money, have sought to blame the failure of the WiFi’asco on ‘politically motivated industrial espionage’ orchestrated by members of Swindons Labour group – this piece of disinformation is as as spiteful as it is demonstrably untrue.

As Swindons Conservative councillors run around trying to organise a political rescue for the sinking WiFi’asco, they appear to be deliberately ignoring the fact that the Chief Executive of Digital City (UK) Ltd has already boarded his pre-prepared lifeboat and has been quietly rowing away from the stinking sinking ship since late last year.

From the very beginnings of the WiFi’asco SBC cabinet members have stubbornly, no, aggressively resisted each and every attempt made to rescue them from their own stupidity, arrogance and ineptitude.

Systematic failings, mistakes, strange decisions, illegalities and questionable practices have been pointed out to the cabinet of Swindon Borough Council at every step but, unless correspondents have been in 100% agreement with the ‘official’ party-political Bluh-line on WiFi, all of them, even critical friends of Rod Bluh’s WiFi pRodject, have been derogated, called liars, misinformants, trouble-makers, scare-mongers and wifi-deniers by those in ‘control’ of the WiFi’asco – despite being invariably and demonstrably correct in almost every aspect of their many enquiries, comments and criticisms.

For their part, the ‘Officials’ who rail-roaded the WiFi scheme into existence, (in a way which almost guaranteed its failure), have proved themselves to be lacking in even the most basic ingredients and skill sets necessary to the schemes success.

I think it is fair to say that the Civic and Business Community has now lost patience with Rod Bluh and his Bluhnderbirds and that a weary recognition that the town cannot save those who will not only not lift a finger to save themselves but aggressively resist help, the town can at least try to save itself from them.

Even Rikki Hunt seems to be doing exactly that…..

Parting thought:

If the the Bluhnderbirds were to have their own theme tune, would it sound and look like this?:

Dumb, dumb de dumb

Dumb de dumb de dumb de de dumb de dumb

Dumb, dumb de dumb

Dumb de dumb de dumb de de dumb de dumb – Dar!

A discussion topic is now open on the Talkswindon Forum Please drop in and join the discussion