March 20th is the
crunch day when Cllr Renard, who is currently rumoured to be bidding for
leadership of the council, will have to give his preferred school site choice for
North Swindon.
What we do know is that
March 20th is the date for the cabinet meeting. However, the agenda and reports are
circulated at least a week before. That
would be round about the 12th March.
The closing date for the consultation is 8th March so he has
three working days to put a report together for cabinet. Knowing how these things work, that seems a
remarkably short time to produce a comprehensive report.
What we also know is that 90
reception school places have not been delivered in a timely fashion and now we
have a sudden rush. Why is this? These
places have been needed for years and, at least five years ago, the numbers
would have been known.
Cllr Renard, as lead member,
is responsible for school place planning and is trying to shunt this away from
himself.
Blame shunting is not new to
politicians on this council. What the
parents of North Swindon children have learnt today is that various facebook
forums exist. No mention has been made
of these or how to access them during the consultation process but Cllr Renard
places great weight on them in the Adver today.
Why have officers at Swindon Borough Council not told anyone about these
facebook forums? What is Cllr Renard up to?
He obviously supports a Mouldon
Hill Country Park option over the alternatives. Why isn’t he honest about this? Or has he
been on a facebook forum that nobody can find?
Even in the report there is no mention of how to access these forums.
