Robert Buckland Weblog

By popular demand, and thanks to my webmaster Tim, this blog now has an RSS feed.  I do hope that afficionados will now tune in as and when things get updated here.  My work as a  School Governor took me to a training session at Swindon Council’s Civic Centre last night entitled “SEN in Mainstream Schools”.   In reality, it was all about the Council’s newly-integrated childrens’ services and an end to the “silo mentality”, with teams of professionals working in the same place and covering a particular area, rather than separately in different pigeon holes (my apologies for mixing metaphors).  There was much enthusiasm for the development of a new facility at Lydiard Park by Hop, Skip and Jump, the Charity that provides assistance to families and youngsters with SEN.  As someone who has lobbied hard for this facility to come to Swindon, I hope that their planning application is successful and look forward to a time when Swindon families no longer have to travel up to near Cheltenham for this wonderful facility.

Swindon’s Council Cabinet was also meeting last night, which allowed me to air my concerns about future development on the north, west and east side of the town.  Swindon, like every other council, is having to conform to a top-down planning process that imposes housing targets on areas.  It will be only ten months to an Election, and a new Conservative Government that will immediately repeal those housing targets by amending the Statutory Instrument that sets them and then will scrap the Regional Spatial Strategy by repealing the primary legislation.   Far from it being a foregone conclusion,  we can do something to slow down or stop Labour’s juggernaut.  As part of all this, the Council has had to produce a Core Strategy, that has now been put out to consultation until September.  I am looking for a  Core Planning Strategy that will be strongly worded, placing heavy emphasis upon the need for fully funded infrastructure before any further exapansion.

I was not at all happy with the decision to increase Residents’ Parking fees so steeply, however.  Whilst some increase was probably necessary, I am not happy with the level of this year’s rise, bearing in mind current economic difficulties.  Yes, I can and do sometimes disagree with the Council, despite the fact that it is controlled by my party.  Being capable of  independent thought is not a bad thing, I think. 

My Labour opponent has just been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.  My congratulations, but with every such appointment comes a price.  Whilst it will give her access to the corridors of power, she is now bound hand and foot to this discredited Government and its failing leadership.  She is now officially the Government’s representative in South Swindon, and will stand or fall with it.