Swindon facing another Council Tax increase next year

Swindon Borough Council Conservative Group leader Cllr Gary Sumner writes for Swindon Link.

Many of you will remember the election campaign in May when Labour posted repeatedly in their leaflets and in paid-for promotions on social media (paid for by the National Labour Party) their big promise of a Council Tax Freeze.

The policy was announced by Sir Keir Starmer at their election launch at the Carriageworks. 

There was some small print (many may not have looked closely) stating that this would apply only ‘if’ there was a Labour Government. However, many believed it, and local labour members and activists repeated it as a reason for voting their way.

That key promise has turned out to be a lie and Council Tax will rise by the maximum allowed of five percent next year – a rise that we, reluctantly, had to implement for the same reasons last year.

They claim this is due to unexpected budget pressures, but those are the same pressures we managed year after year whilst delivering a balanced budget. I have some sympathy in that managing a council is never easy but we always succeeded in keeping key services running. 

It requires tough decisions and all the time you have the increasing pressures of adults and children’s social care, which Sir Kier Starmer hasn’t said they would deal with any differently either.

Please remember this as leaflets start to pop through your door again over the coming months. Last month I proposed a motion asking the Labour administration to prioritise development of Brownfield sites, before Greenfield. 

The Labour members, without any debate, defeated this unanimously – they said they didn’t want to pre-judge the draft ‘Local Plan’ which will be subject to consultation next summer (after the elections). I am disappointed, as it is within the council’s gift to decide on the amount of growth and where they want those sites to be.

Swindon has enough planned development for housing and employment for the next 20 years and residents in Highworth, Blunsdon, Wroughton, Wanborough and West Swindon should be very concerned. In the meantime, we will continue to oppose additional and unnecessary development.

More green fields will be lost to development under the Labour administration as they now lie unprotected, whilst hundreds of brownfield sites stand empty and waiting.

Finally, I have raised with the Council Leader and Chief Executive the removal of the ‘Adults & Childrens’ Overview & Scrutiny Committee meetings in May, as they rushed to create new ‘policy’ committees. 

After nine months without a single policy agreed, and with Adults and Childrens services facing serious challenges there is now agreement from all that this decision was hasty. I have asked that these valuable meetings are reinstated to protect both the council and its residents form potentially harmful decisions.