At a recent Full Council meeting, the Chair of ORA spoke in support of the petition that 450 local residents had signed. The Chair urged the Councillors to take account of the views of the large majority of Oakhurst residents:
The Leader of the Council has been reported as saying that all discussions have two sides - and that is a view that I think all residents will agree with, but unfortunately one that many will also feel does not apply when it comes to many community consultations that are carried by the Council.
The Council often appears to consult with the residents when a decision has already been rubber stamped by the cabinet and then simply do what it had originally planned without actually taking into account any views that do not fit in with their own. The essence of Localism is that all views, especially the grassroots views, are equally valid and should feed into the decision making process, regardless of whether they agree with the Council’s or not. Only through open and honest debate, with no predetermined view on what the outcome should be, can a discussion truly be said to have two sides. All too often it is the view that contradicts the Council’s position which is ignored by the Council – yet that is the second side to the issue.
We have been out door-knocking in recent weeks talking to residents of Oakhurst about the future development of the north-west edge of Swindon. One thing that has become abundantly clear to us is that the hundreds of residents we spoke to are not feeling listened to by the Council. There is a belief that the current administration of Swindon Borough Council will do exactly what it wants to do in spite of the views of the residents that will be affected. Many wanted to complain about what is being proposed in the local area, but felt there was little point in telling the Council as they would simply do what they wanted anyway. This is not Localism, as the residents feel that there is no prospect of their views being listened to and acted upon.
I would also like to highlight similar issues with the current Locality groups. There is a growing belief that while these groups are chaired by Borough Councillors instead of freely elected chairs from the Locality group as a whole, then they will not allow open and free discussion of the issues that affect residents, as residents have very little input into the agenda. The Locality groups were intended, in my opinion, to allow residents to have an input into issues that affect their lives – part of the Stronger Together initiative.
