Will Swindon wi-fi the London Olympics in 2012? What I thought was that I had long written the last blog post on the Swindon Wif-fi project but read more here on where it is going London Bathgate has also been mentioned but Boris is seeking advice: http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8332274.Boris_learns_more_about_Swindon_s_wi_fi_experiences/?ref=mr
What I find difficult to understand here is there any political gain being made here for Boris Mayor of London by having the leader of SBC involved in this meeting? I recall this Swindon Advertiser article about politics impacting on the business?
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local/5043119.Wi_fi_row_rumbles_on_for_politicians/
And
Des Morgans letter that pointed out the pitfalls of joint deals with councils, which are political organisations.
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/yoursay/swindonletters/5049338.Letter_from_Des_Morgan/
Politics is involved in this as the Conservative administration has appointed Cllr Perkins to the Board in Lieu of The Director of Business Transformation referred to in this thread. When cllr Garry Perkins was appointed to the board he became the council’s representative for all that is wifi. I fully accept that appointment and I recall when the leader was asked a question at full council he referred the questioner to Cllr Perkins as the representative on the board. So why then was Cllr Perkins not at London, meeting Boris? Incidentally, which I believe would be perfectly acceptable for him to do so in what capacity is the stumbling point for me.
As a councillor I personally, would find it difficult to justify this visit as an approved cllr duty and therefore would not claim expenses for the travel to London. Maybe a reason for approved duty was that the council leader was only deputising for the Company representative on the board? It still leaves the question for approved duty “In what capacity was he acting” Is it company rep on the board or as leader of the Council? It causes me some confusion. As you can see Richard has referred to the salesmen, so I think that adds some weight to the point. I am probably barking up the wrong tree and it falls within an approved duty? As I have not made any claims recently it may be I am a little rusty and have a lack of understanding that is prompting these questions?
If Rod is there as a politician and Rikki is with him is this a political visit or as Richard points out a sales visit? If it was a council visit then the leader could have attended as the Deputy for Garry (If that is possible under company law?) and taken along Cllr Montaut and Cllrs Stan Pajack as they are group leaders to represent the council? Maybe they were all asked Cllrs Perkins, Montaut, and Pajack, that is but were unable to attend? If they could not they could have sent deputies?
I do not mind admitting it, but as an elected member of a council, which is a political organisation. Personally I am having difficulty getting to grips with all the intricacies these new types of relationships that the leader talks of. Especially when the council loans public tax payers money to them and becomes a major shareholder in a company. This tthis new way of working certainly cause me some confusion? :embarassed:
There is more here on www.talkswindon.org
www.talkswindon.org operated by Geof Reid is Swindon’s largest social media site, it does not carry any advertising and is not sponsored by any groups niether does it seek donations. It is funded solely out of the Geoff Reid Scrutiny Fund fondly known as his back pocket.
He has from time to time been scrutinised himself and he will not desist from his scrutiny of local politicians and national political figures. Starting out over 4 years ago with 1 main issue No2ID it has been through many stages covering many topics and culminated in an adjournment debate in parliament, into the Swindon wifi. There are of course many topics posts and threads on TS, so @Geoff_Reid is bemused as to why such a sophisticated and sustained cyber attack has taken place on www.talkswindon.org However he and his back room boffins have fought this barrage off and he has assured readers that it will be back up shortly.
This site is read by many politicians and government departments as well as those associated with the media. There is also www.talkswindon.org on YouTube.com and you can see the adjournment debate there. www.talkswindon.org actually hosts several blogs including this one, if you are interested in a social media site or if you want to have a blog hosted by www.talkswindon.org contact on Geoff at geoffreid@talkswindon.org For those that want to use an open blog there is blogswindon there for anyone to use, again contact Geoff if you want access to post your subject on blogswindon. Twitter Geoff on @Geoff_Reid
Talkswindon carries this message at present:
Talkswindon has recently suffered a prolonged attack. For your safety and to protect the site it was withdrawn from service.We are currently testing the site and hope to return to full and normal service by late morning on Thursday the 15th of July
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Wi-fi is still not completed in Highworth, the town centre roll out has not started, and the Council’s Board Member and Deputy Leader does not know how many signed up paying subscribers there are. Cameron says public sector workers will bear the brunt of cuts in the budget on Tuesday. It looks like there will be a thunderclap over Swindon. The 700k which the Leader has told us will come in useful and cllr Mark Edwards found it offensive that people were questioning this new innovative way of earning revenue for SBC’s public services.
I remember both cllrs Bluh and Edwards telling us that this was the way to do business in the future and there will be more of them to come. The Condem coalition has cut 1.4 million from the budget and at 700k per year that will be made up in only 2 years. Maybe Pickles had been listening after all? I cannot think that there is any reason why Pickles would have cut the money to Swindon, when everyone was aware that the council has been claiming it is underfunded.
Kerrching!! Roll on keep pouring in each year a minimum 700k! cllr Rod Bluh, Garry Perkins are our best hope of offsetting the bitter aftertaste of Pickles 
I tweeted this earlier today @therailwayman #swindon council cleared over wifi deal by District Auditor I think the toryleader does not get it? Its about democracy http://twurl.cc/2xrr
The link is to the advertiser article it contains nothing of what the Audit Commision actually stated see www.talkswindon.org see this link http://www.talkswindon.org/index.php?topic=5938.msg39305#msg39305
Who Audit’s the Audit Commission?
It looks like the leader of Swindon council Cllr Bluh was correct all along; “it was within the rules”. The council can now carry on with the wi-fi project regardless of external scrutiny.
I now find myself having to accept the audit commission’s outcome. However it does not rest easy with me and I still believe that it is not the way to do business in public office, regardless of what the Audit Commission has pronounced. There must be a better way of dealing with such matters and I hope that Parliament will do something about changing the process (Going back to the committee structure has been mooted by ConDem coalition government). If not I await the day when the council will change its constitution to make the decisions more inclusive. Until then it will not be possible to easily convince me that this is the best way to serve the public interest. All 59 councillors on SBC should be included in such decisions and the SBC constitution should be amended to eliminate such occurrences in future.
There are still outstanding questions to be answered, how many of the 13 paying customers are paying business customers? I recall one of the last things he did as a councillor cllr Tomlinson as a member of scrutiny asked at wifi Scrutiny meeting that future progress/update reports should be brought back to scrutiny. I am sure the new Scrutiny Chair Kevin Small will do this, however the fact that its been called party political should not stop cllr Montaut as Leader of Labour group to press for the same information. The question is when will the first progress report be as we are now 6 months into this innovative and vibrant project.
I also note from a chat with a member of the public that they have a complaint about the LG Act 200, so I have referred them to Robert Buckland MP, as nothing has changed since the matter was raised in parliament and guidence given by a minister. We still have an MP it’s just a different party and if Robert takes it up it will prove that this was not party political, which it is not. Its about democracy and how to modernise SBC Quill pen democracy, and record all scrutiny, cabinet and full council meetings to put confidence back into the system..
People who ask questions and scrutinise the Council Exective about its decisions are not loudmouths or opinionated as Cllrs or members of the public democracy allows for scrutiny. I am sure that the leader of the council understands that and like he has said scrutiny and challenge is generally to be welcomed.
Like I said who audits the audit commission? Maybe it is something for our conservative MPs to consider taking up, in this new coalition that is we are told more open, free and fairer?
wifi | Councillor Steve Wakefield | 
August 16, 2010 3:59 pm | 
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