Councillor Jim Robbins went to Calais to meet refugees, he working with Swindon Calais solidarity group to bring aid to the people..Pic - Jim Robbins.Date 19/11/15.Pic By Dave Cox. COUNCILLOR Jim Robbins does – as it turns out – have the authority. Having said at the start of Monday night s online scrutiny committee meeting that he didn’t want any Handforth Parish Council vibes”, the chairman and Labour councillor went on to lay down the law. His comment followed coverage of a parish meeting in Cheshire which went viral last week and made an overnight star of its clerk, Jackie Weaver.
Apprenticeships Getting more young people into apprenticeships and then full-time work is the aim of a new plan adopted by Swindon Borough Council. The authority’s Apprenticeships Action Plan has been approved and coincides with National Apprenticeship Week, which starts today. The plan focuses on helping employers to overcome barriers to taking on apprentices, promoting apprenticeship opportunities within schools and further education colleges, and extending the Young Apprentice Ambassador Network. Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership, will run a marketing campaign for parents and students to show how an apprenticeship might be a good career choice. And New College Swindon will promote apprenticeship opportunities available in 2021 at the town’s new Institute of Technology when it opens in September.
Yesterday we saw a very welcome announcement from Swindon Borough Council as they seek to secure the future of the Oasis. As I have previously written, most people in Swindon have a cherished memory of the Oasis. It is an iconic, much loved, well used and integral part of Swindon’s heritage and leisure provision. I want to pay tribute to all of the residents and the Save Oasis campaign group who have made it crystal clear how important the Oasis is. As a local resident, the former Lead Member for Leisure, Recreation and Culture on Swindon Borough Council and having served as the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Sport and Leisure; I absolutely share the passion to save the Oasis – closure would be unacceptable.
Thousands of people across Swindon will be offered supermarket vouchers ahead of the half-term. The borough council received £624,935 from the government as part of the Covid Winter Grant Scheme to support families with the cost of food and fuel during the Christmas and February school holidays. The council aims to use the funding to support more people in need by extending the eligibility to include a wider range of residents who will receive a £15 supermarket voucher to cover the one-week half-term period from February 15. Most of those eligible will be children who are entitled to free school meals during term time, along with children in receipt of two-year-old funding and those eligible for the pupil premium aged three and four.
The Oasis Leisure Centre and its famous Domebusters flumes remain closed Picture: DAVE COX Millions of pounds might be made available by Swindon Borough Council to help a private leisure provider reopen the Oasis. But the money which would be borrowed by the local authority – £5m was the figure discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday – could also be used to help fund other facilities in the town. The Oasis has been closed since the second national lockdown ended in November, with operator GLL saying it is no longer viable. Its lease has yet to be handed back to landlord Seven Capital.