Looking forward to a positive New Year: Swindon Borough Council Leader Cllr Jim Robbins writes for the Link

I hope that you have all had a very merry Christmas, and want to wish all Link readers a very Happy New Year! I’m really hoping that 2025 will see positive news for Swindon and us all.

We certainly feel that we have made steady progress at improving the council over the last 18 months after taking over the control of Swindon Borough Council but know that we still have more work to do to make the council into the more effective and more responsive organisation that is really working well with residents to support them and build the better Swindon we all want to see. 

We have seen positive news through 2024 with the Local Government Association Peer Review, the Staff survey and most importantly, the Resident survey all showing improvement, and we have received a letter from Ofsted setting out the progress we have made since the council Children’s Services were judged as inadequate, as we took over.

Whilst it is great to have these measures saying that we are going in the right direction, we know that there is much more work to do. We need to keep up the pace of improvements, work on our transformation plans designed to being more preventative services back into the council, and deal with the challenging financial picture, whilst still delivering the Swindon plan, our ambitious missions which will help us deliver a Fairer, Better, and Greener Swindon.

At the time of writing, we aren’t yet sure of the Financial Settlement for next year, although we are pleased by the change in approach from the new Government which feels much more like a partnership than we have had before.  As we work on the budget through January and into February, we will be trying to balance the need to make cuts with the challenge of ensuring that services are protected and have the resources to deliver.

The Swindon plan is on target, with a number of milestones already achieved and plenty more in progress as we go through the year.  We have set up delivery boards to ensure that the missions are on track, and we will be commencing these in the New Year. 

We are looking forward to 2025, with progress expected on the Oasis, the Locarno, new development by Panattoni on the old Honda site, the Health Hydro reopening, the final completion of the long-running Fleming Way works, continuing to work with the Arts Council to get more funding for the town, the opening of a new youth centre, developing the plans for a new entertainments venue, and continuing to drive forward the ambitious Heart of Swindon plans and the Knowledge Central development at the railway station, and much more planned.

We’ll reflect on a lot of positives from 2024, not least the amazing recent news of the new Swindon MP Heidi Alexander becoming the new Secretary of State for Transport, and look forward to a positive 2025 for Swindon.  I really hope it is a brilliant year for you and your family.