Reform UK Swindon - turning priorities into action: Swindon Borough Council Reform UK Group Leader Cllr Sara Godwin writes for the Link

Last month, I introduced our priorities for Swindon and the principle behind them: Swindon Residents First.

This month, I want to explain how we are putting those priorities into practice, both through our work in the Council chamber and through the everyday issues residents bring to their ward councillors.
Our councillors have been preparing motions for October’s Full Council meeting covering housing, community safety, illegal working and the pressures placed on local services. These are different subjects, but each raises the same question: how can we make Swindon a safer, fairer and better place to live?
Our motion on houses in multiple occupation, or HMOs, connects directly to our priorities of putting local residents first, growth with infrastructure and supporting families.
Shared housing has a place in Swindon’s housing market. But residents also deserve proper consideration of the cumulative effects when family homes are converted into HMOs in areas already experiencing high concentrations.
We are calling for a clearer map of where licensed and other known HMOs are within Swindon, assessment of the impact on neighbourhoods and consideration of targeted planning controls. Alongside this, we want effective enforcement of existing standards.
The aim is to ensure that housing decisions take residents’ concerns seriously and properly consider parking, waste, antisocial behaviour, local amenities and the balance of our communities.
Our motion on illegal working in the delivery sector links to safer streets and backing responsible businesses.
Businesses and workers who follow the rules should be able to compete fairly. We are seeking stronger checks by delivery platforms and clearer reporting and enforcement arrangements where illegal working or road safety concerns arise.
On asylum accommodation, we are asking for a fairer approach to how accommodation is distributed, proper consultation with the Council and scrutiny of whether Government funding covers the additional pressures on local services.
National decisions have local consequences. Our responsibility is to ask what those decisions mean for Swindon and ensure residents’ interests are represented.
I am also bringing forward a motion on women’s safety in parks and public spaces. The horrific reported group sexual attack on a woman in Swindon in the past month underlines why this work is so urgent. My thoughts are with her, and she deserves every possible support.
I have been pressing the police for answers. Even before this attack, I had raised concerns with the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon about the high levels of violent and sexual offences recorded in and around some of our parks.
We need the Council, police and Commissioner to work together on the issues raised by this motion: improving awareness, identifying where lighting, CCTV and neighbourhood policing can help, reducing violence and ensuring victims receive the support they need.
Women should be able to enjoy Swindon’s parks and public spaces without fear. Residents deserve clear action and accountability for making them safer.
Alongside this broader policy work, a great deal of our councillors’ time is spent on ward casework: listening to residents, raising concerns with officers, following up outstanding cases and helping people navigate council services.
Much of that work never makes a headline. It involves emails, calls, visits and persistence. But for someone waiting for an answer about their home, street or neighbourhood, it matters enormously.
Ward work also helps shape better policy. When similar concerns arise repeatedly, councillors need to ask whether the Council’s wider approach needs to change.
Our 10 priorities are intended to guide those choices. Protecting frontline services means examining pressures on budgets. Supporting families means considering housing and neighbourhoods. Safer communities means turning residents’ concerns into practical proposals.
We will work with councillors from other parties where there is common ground, and challenge decisions where we believe residents deserve better.
Listening locally, following through on casework and bringing forward practical proposals: that is how we intend to keep putting Swindon residents first.