We'll make sure they keep their promises (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

We'll make sure they keep their promises

Councillor Roderick Bluh, council deputy leader, says there should be a first-stop council shop set up within six monthsPLEDGE WATCH: Today, the Adver is launching Pledge Watch a way to keep track of all the council's plans. SWINDON Council is well ahead of target on the first of its 50 pledges.

A first-stop shop could be up and running in the town centre within six months.

The idea is to provide a front door to all the council's services and cut confusion about who deals with what and where.

As well as being one of the administration's pledges, the idea of a first-stop shop was included in interim chief executive Sir Mike Pitt's full recovery plan for the council.

"It is one of our most important proposals," Sir Mike said.

"All the best councils are now having them. It is state of the art the new way of working.

"It is about giving the public much better access to our services and to the services of other parts of the public sector.

"It is the front door to the council so it is very exciting."

The council promised to have the first-stop shop up and running by 2010 but is now looking at a much closer deadline.

A temporary facility will be provided within six months, somewhere in the town centre, until the permanent version can be built.

The current plan is to incorporate this into the new central library at the old town hall but nothing is set in stone.

"At the moment we are looking at it permanently going into the library," said Coun Roderick Bluh, deputy leader of the council.

"It will go into a temporary location for now. If a better location came up for it we might make the decision to go for that instead.

"It is not 100 per cent. But it will be in the town centre. We have got to make sure it is in with the people. People are not going to want to travel a long way."

Coun Bluh said the first-stop shop, which will deal with enquiries about all council services from council tax to recycling, would be much better than the current situation.

"It is all over the place," he said. "There is no particular place for people to come to have their queries answered."

And the problems that causes for the council means that once it is established the first-stop shop may even save it money.

Council leaders are being updated on the progress on the pledges every three months but have been focusing on the first-stop shop as a priority from day one.

"We have got started on it," Coun Bluh said.

"Of all the things in there the library and the first-stop shop are top of the list of priorities at the moment."

Looking at progress

SWINDON Council has made 50 pledges to the people of Swindon, promising to meet them by 2010.

And to keep track on whether the council delivers what it says it will the Swindon Advertiser is today launching Pledge Watch.

Each week we will look at a different promise, studying the reasons behind it and assessing the progress the council has made.

We will take the pledges in the order the council numbered them, starting today with the idea of a first-stop shop for the town.

The first 15 pledges centre around "your council" itself and the way it serves Swindonians.

Pledges 16 to 28 focus on "your culture, leisure and learning" with targets including improving school exam results and building a library.

Pledges 29 to 34 cover social services issues under the heading "your children, your family the people who matter".

Pledges 35 to 44 are about "your town", looking at town centre regeneration and improving other areas of the town.

Pledges 45 to 50 are about "your communities", covering crime and recycling.

Isabel Field