Cllr Owen Lister Chases Action On Overgrown Areas

At last night's Council meeting the Swindon Conservatives exposed the Labour cabinet's continued failure to deliver on grounds maintenance.

Cllr Owen Lister (Conservative, Abbey Meads) drew attention to overgrown areas alongside highways and public spaces.

Such areas are untidy, unsightly and unsafe.

Cllr Lister asked why the Labour council insisted on further plantings when it is unable to manage the existing areas properly.  There was no satisfactory answer.

Cllr Lister pressed ahead with his question despite attempts from Labour Councillor Philip Steele to halt the question.  Cllr Lister said, "The issue of landscaping and ground maintaince is too important to be swept aside, we will keep chasing Labour on this."

In a further twist, Conservative Leader Mike Bawden revealed that the Labour-led council is failing to meet its targets for grass cutting across the borough. He produced a damning report that states that the council plans to amend the target downwards rather than improve its performance.

This is a typical Labour trick. When they fail to meet performance targets they either abolish the target altogether or set such low standards that to meet the target requires no service improvements at all.  This defeats the object and shows that the Labour cabinet is neither willing nor able to drive improvements in council services.