Page 22 - link magazine

NEWS & VIEWS
22
For Newcomers to
Gateway invites families in
West Swindon West Swindon's Gateway Super-
store welcomed parents and chil-
Unless you have a friend willing to escort you to a community group, dren from the West Swindon
it can be difficult breaking into existing activities if you are new to Family Project to their staff day
West Swindon, or new to motherhood. on Sunday 11th December.
Several groups have been setup to help new arrivals find their way Twenty seven children and 19
in the community. They meet on: adults attended the all day open-
Mondays between 1p.m. and 230p.m. The Newcomers welcome ing where there were clowns, free
parents with toddlers in the Community Suite at the Link Centre. merry-go-round rides, entertain-
Tuesdays, 1030p.m. to midday. Arrivals Officer Pam Pixton holds ment and a free lunch for the
a coffee morning for anybody who needs information about West youngsters.
Swindon, again in the Community Suite at the Link. "We had a wonderful day,"
Thursday, from 10a.m. until 12 noon. There is a coffee morning in said Bobbie French, volunteer
The Village Inn at Shaw Village Centre for anybody who has moved worker with the Family Project.
to Shaw and would like to meet a neighbour. "We would like to say a big thank
Friday, 10.30a.m. until midday. The Locobus mobile community you to the manager and staff at
centre is parked on Sparcells Drive in Sparcells. The bus is acting as Gateway for giving the families
a temporary meeting place for coffee and a chat until a community an early Christmas present."
building can be provided in the area. Above: Some of the youngsters who enjoyed a day out at Gateway
Below: Friendly faces at Shaw's coffee morning in The Village Inn
The Desperate
Housing Dilemma

Despite a 130 name petition of objection from residents of Castleton
Road in Middleleaze, Thamesdown Council's Planning Committee
has given the go-ahead to a scheme to build 79 council houses near
Roughmoor Way in Shaw. Local councillor Tony Free considers the
problems faced bythe Council in trying to provide public housing, par-
ticularly for those left behind by market forces.
I don't intend to delve deeply but there were half a dozen fami-
into the ethics of the sale of Coun- lies also in desperate situations
cil houses at discounts of up to already waiting for vacancies in
50%, but it is important for people accommodation that is only con-
to realize how we as a local coun- sidered by those in the direst need.
cil are able to spend the cash re- As at August 1st 1988 the
ceived from the sale of Housing Council waiting list stood at 5,390
Stock. with houses becoming available
You could be forgiven for the at the rate of 950 per year which
comment "why don't you build although horrifying enough is put
If you need a business card, houses with the money you re- in perspective by the fact that the
ceive?" The answer is that we do, Council has also received 1,368
a newsletter or an but the government only allows applications from homeless
us to spend 20% of the money we people over the last year.
receive, i.e. in the case of a house To fully appreciate the impact
discounted by 50% we can spend of these figures you must realize
only 10% of thevalueof the house. that we are referring to the num-
The cost of a starter home is ber of applications and that the
now over £50,000 which is be- number of people affected is
yond the reach of most young nearer to 20,000 (the population
single income couples and in fact, of Swindon is less than 160,000).
/ many two income couples, so the The Housing Department is not
need for rented accommodation the most popular of departments
is clear. Inability to keep up with the public, but it should be
We may be able to help you mortgage repayments is now realised that the emotional pres-
becoming one of the main rea- sure of having to say no is so
sons for homelessness and yet great that some of the jobs within
building societies and banks the department have to be ro-
rokes apply more and more pressure to tated.
As a Local Councillor I also am
bring people into the housing
market. subjected to ever increasing stress
Homelessness in Swindon has by the depressing nature of the
now reached epidemic propor- cases I deal with, and I feel I am
tions and there is every indica- qualified to lay the blame for the
for whenever you need to put tion that it will become consid- current housing situation firmly
erably worse. This fact was at the door of this Government.
words into print. brought home to me recently
when I tried to arrange emer- Tony Free is Chair of Thamesdown
gency accommodation for a Council's Community Planning
Telephone Swindon 872282 couple and their children with Committee and councillor for Tooth-
nowhere to go. Not only was the ill Ward (including Westlea, Show
emergency accommodation full and Sparcells).