Not a good day in terms of gas for Swindon today. What with the Highworth Road closed with a suspected gas leak and then the incident at Ridgeway school. Just reminds me how dangerous things can be and how safe we are kept. 
I'm pleased everyone is OK at Ridgeway, I'm sure it will be the topic of conversation for weeks to come at school and stories handed down and exaggerated as time goes by, much as an explosion was when I was at school, I doubt it was really an explosion, probably just a loud bang. Chemistry lessons are brilliant, lets hope they never stop them.
Two big issues appear to dominate the Adver at the moment, Speed Cameras and the elected Mayor debate. Have you had your say? What do you think?
I'm unsure about elected Mayors, I do think residents should decide whether or not we want one, but more than just on an Adver poll which for some reason I can't access anyway 
If we are serious we should put all the info out to every voter and have a referendum. If the people say 'Yeah' then so bit. The only anxiety I would have is the Mayor ending up being a one issue or huge personality Mayor which leaves the council vulnerable. Political parties have there weaknesses but at least it means Councillors are accountable more regularly than every four year when they are next up for election. Once we have an elected Mayor that's it for the term, and they are alone to do as and what they please 
Get a god one, brilliant but bad......
So, Speed Cameras, no messing I am for them. Interesting the cabinet paper is written in a very different way to normal in my opinion. You can see it here . The last bit reads...
Options available to Swindon Borough Council
2.26 There appear therefore to be two options available to the Council at this
time in addition to the decision already made to confirm 08/09 funding.
2.27 Option 1: No change - Swindon Borough Council signs up to the redrafted
SCP agreement and identifies in that agreement the financial contribution
that will be made over the financial years 2009/10 to 2010/11. This
enables Swindon Borough Council to retain the full capital allocation within
the Local Transport Plan capital programme process, and £67,000 of the
revenue allocation to offset staff costs in the Road Safety Team with the
remainder going to the SCP. This follows the same approach as
previously and would give partners greater certainty over future funding,
but would not enable the Council to review funding annually.
2.28 A variation on this option would be not to identify the financial contribution
but authorise the Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Strategic
Planning to agree this.
2.29 Option 1 gives the partnership greater certainty over funding but assumes
that Safety Cameras continue to be the most effective means of achieving
accident reduction. It does not address the Council’s need to review how
best to achieve accident reduction in the Borough.
2.30 Option 2: This option requires that the Council completes work on a
revised Strategic Plan for Accident Reduction to ensure that we are devoting our resources to those interventions which will have most effect.
It also requires that we work with the Police and Wiltshire County Council
to review and restructure the Road Safety partnership to ensure that we
are all focused on tackling the key issues. However, to ensure that we are
able to use the funds available to us more flexibly it would also require that
the Council gives formal notice that it will withdraw from the Wiltshire and
Swindon Safety Camera Partnership.
2.31 If Members are inclined to accept this option it is essential that more work
is completed on the required accident prevention measures that we wish
to adopt. We also need to be clear on the role of our partners in helping
us to achieve an improvement in KSI performance. It is therefore
recommended that a report on the Strategic Plan for Accident Reduction
be brought back to Cabinet in 3 months setting out progress in delivering
the above recommendations.
2.32 The cabinet report would need to cover a revised SPAR for Swindon and
how the Council could deliver this. Even so, there are a number of risks
associated with this approach. These are;
�� Unless other measures are clearly defined and targeted there could
be a negative impact upon accident reduction in Swindon.
�� We need to maintain a relationship with the partners such as the Police and Wiltshire County Council. If the Council has to organise its own Education and Speed Awareness courses, this could have a significant impact on resources and/or budgets
�� It may undermine aspects of the Local Area Agreement.
2.33 In addition there are financial impacts:
�� There is an estimated £360k maximum cost to be met by Swindon Borough Council through downsizing the operations of the Partnership. This would need to be paid from the grant allocation and would mean that the funding was not available for other
measures for at least 12 months. To cover this expenditure from the Council’s overall budget could have a significant impact on the Council’s budget.
�� No funding currently exists for the above or any other resultant
costs in withdrawal.
Most worrying for me is the year wait whilst plans are made and money put by before we see these new accident reduction measures. Accidents are caused by many things and speed is not always the issue thankfully. I hope accidents reduce in Swindon whatever is decided next week. We all need to be better pedestrians, better on bikes and better in cars lets hope either way our statistics get better as we all become more aware.
Better go now, just off to work 
