Oasis: Architects of Austerity
22nd November 2023
In March this year, we were amongst those to meet with Seven Capital to discuss the Oasis. Seven Capital agreed to keep the Oasis site clean by regularly litter picking, emptying bins, and having weekly waste collections. This happened for a short period only before signs of neglect began resurfacing. Seven Capital claim that they have not breached the lease, which is ludicrous considering the weight of written and photographic evidence.
Correspondence
Josie Lewis and the SOS team both wrote to local MPs to ask whethey they could do anything to help clean up the Oasis site. The government created the conditions for the awful situation at the Oasis through policies which have stripped the public realm of money, power, and resources. Hence we wrote to both local MPs to make these points and to suggest remedies. Neither MP expressed any interest in those. Justin Tomlinson was dishonest:
6th October 2023
Dear Mr Tomlinson,
I am writing to you about the state of the Oasis buildings and grounds. The leasehold contract for the Oasis between Seven Capital and the borough council stipulates that the grounds are to be adequately maintained. This has consistently been breached by Seven Capital without any consequences from the borough council. Had a council tenant done the same, they would have been evicted long ago. There is a power imbalance which has been created by government policies which has enabled this awful situation.
Swindon Borough Council are around £400 million in debt. The lies of austerity were used to justify cuts to council funding from central government, part of a longer term privatisation agenda. That has caused councils to sell off public assets, cut staff, and reduce services. This continues to disempower the public. It is part of the widening economic inequality which has become so vast that it has been termed the Cost of Living Crisis. We are seeing the result of that gross economic inequality in the rise in crime, mental health problems, poverty, hunger, distrust, as examples. See The Spirit Level, and the work of Danny Dorling and The Equality Trust, for evidence of those correlations.
Public services such as the Oasis are vital for the health of local communities. Its closure has compounded the outcomes of gross economic inequality previously mentioned. It’s no surprise that the area has become run down, that people in it are struggling, that crime and anti-social behaviour has risen. Rather than deal with a myriad of symptoms, we need to deal with the core problem. That means levelling the playing field, restoring some semblance of equality. There are people in the world with billions of pounds whilst others are reliant on handouts. This gross inequality is the problem from which so much suffering manifests. The greed of a few, who are seemingly determined to hold onto power and wealth by any means, is destroying the planet and the well-being of its inhabitants.
How about the government properly tax national and multinational corporations? How about loopholes in the law are closed to stop tax avoidance by what has been termed the wealth defence industry? The billions of pounds that this would raise could be provided to councils to be able to adequately support the public. Then we could have a fully restored public Oasis along with other public provisions.
I have offered 2 ideas to help further equality which would realise a significant rise in standards of living. There are a myriad more ways that this could be done such as rent reductions, adequate living wages, and renationalisation of key service industries. Will you support such measures to deal with the core problem of inequality from which problems like those at the Oasis emanate?
Yours sincerely,
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
An automatic response was sent which included the following sentence:
A strict Parliamentary convention means that MPs can only deal with matters raised by residents from their own constituency.
However, this is not true and not how Justin Tomlinson operates, hence we responded:
6th October 2023
Mr Tomlinson,
As mentioned before, we are a Swindon-wide organisation, with volunteers who live in both south and north Swindon, who work in both south and north Swindon. The issues raised are in your constituency and affect the people who live in your constituency. Do you care to respond?
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
6th October 2023
Dear Ben,
Thank you for your email.
As you know you live in South Swindon, so your MP is Robert Buckland MP who can respond to all the points you have raised.
Kind regards,
Justin Tomlinson MP
8th October 2023
Hi Justin,
You regularly corresponded and occasionally met with south Swindon resident Edward Glennie from SCAN. Why would you do that with one Swindon-wide environmental group but not another? And are you telling me that you don't correspond with other organisations which operate in your area but with people who live in other constituencies?
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
9th October 2023
Dear Ben,
I have explained this to you many times before.
SCAN organised meetings through North Swindon residents and asked if others could attend, which I was happy for them to do as they were always interesting meetings.
You live in South Swindon so as per Parliamentary rules, Robert as your MP is your contact for any local or national issues you wish to raise. It would be unfair on North Swindon residents if I started seeking to represent beyond my constituency.
Kind regards,
Justin Tomlinson MP
11th October
If you don't want to respond, that's fine. Hopefully the other Parliamentary candidates for north Swindon care more about plastic pollution.
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
Having claimed that he didn't respond to south Swindon residents under any circumstances, we noticed that Justin Tomlinson sent an email on the 17th November 2023 to Neil Robinson, co-ordinator of the Save Oasis Swindon (SOS) campaign and resident of south Swindon...
We sent the following response:
18th November 2023
Dear all,
I wrote to both local MPs recently about the policies responsible for the situation we find ourselves in with a lack of funds to restore the Oasis, at the beg and mercy of wealthy investors. Despite being aware that Plastic Free Swindon / Keep Swindon Tidy operate and have members in both north and south Swindon, Mr Tomlinson claims that he can't communicate with me because I am a south Swindon resident. However he has been communicating with Neil from SOS, who also lives in south Swindon. I think Mr Tomlinson doesn't want to respond to me because he and the government have created the awful situation at the Oasis. Indeed the effects of their policies run much deeper. Here's the letter that he avoids responding to:
[COPY OF THE ORIGINAL LETTER TO JUSTIN TOMLINSON]
Yours sincerely,
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
6th October 2023
Dear Mr Buckland,
I am writing to you about the state of the Oasis buildings and grounds. The leasehold contract for the Oasis between Seven Capital and the borough council stipulates that the grounds are to be adequately maintained. This has consistently been breached by Seven Capital without any consequences from the borough council. Had a council tenant done the same, they would have been evicted long ago. There is a power imbalance which has been created by government policies which has enabled this awful situation.
Swindon Borough Council are around £400 million in debt. The lies of austerity were used to justify cuts to council funding from central government, part of a longer term privatisation agenda. That has caused councils to sell off public assets, cut staff, and reduce services. This continues to disempower the public. It is part of the widening economic inequality which has become so vast that it has been termed the Cost of Living Crisis. We are seeing the result of that gross economic inequality in the rise in crime, mental health problems, poverty, hunger, distrust, as examples. See The Spirit Level, and the work of Danny Dorling and The Equality Trust, for evidence of those correlations.
Public services such as the Oasis are vital for the health of local communities. Its closure has compounded the outcomes of gross economic inequality previously mentioned. It’s no surprise that the area has become run down, that people in it are struggling, that crime and anti-social behaviour has risen. Rather than deal with a myriad of symptoms, we need to deal with the core problem. That means levelling the playing field, restoring some semblance of equality. There are people in the world with billions of pounds whilst others are reliant on handouts. This gross inequality is the problem from which so much suffering manifests. The greed of a few, who are seemingly determined to hold onto power and wealth by any means, is destroying the planet and the well-being of its inhabitants.
Mr Buckland, you claimed in previous correspondence with me to serve the interests of the people in your constituency of south Swindon. Let’s test that. How about the government properly tax national and multinational corporations? How about loopholes in the law are closed to stop tax avoidance by what has been termed the wealth defence industry? The billions of pounds that this would raise could be provided to councils to be able to adequately support the public. Then we could have a fully restored public Oasis along with other public provisions.
I have offered 2 ideas to help further equality which would realise a significant rise in standards of living. There are a myriad more ways that this could be done such as rent reductions, adequate living wages, and renationalisation of key service industries. Will you support such measures to deal with the core problem of inequality from which problems like those at the Oasis emanate?
Yours sincerely,
Ben Bell
Plastic Free Swindon co-ordinator
Awaiting response...
For sale
The new Labour administraton of the borough council have decided to sell the Oasis and North Star sites to Seven Capital once the Oasis is refurbished and open. We attended a Cabinet Meeting about this on the 15th November. It included public questions. Given the interest in the Oasis, those were fairly extensive.
I asked a couple of questions:
- Given their track record of dishonesty and breaking the terms of the Oasis leasehold contract, can Seven Capital be trusted? Councillor Kevin Small said that the stipulations, processes and other organisations involved in the deal would ensure that Seven Capital do as agreed.
- How long are the public going to continue paying for the lies of austerity? Councillor Kevin Small agreed that austerity was key to the dire financial situation for the borough council. Inadequate funding from central government is the main reason that the borough council are considering selling the Oasis rather than restore and run it themselves.
We also attended the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Monday 20th November. I found it a difficult meeting. Members of the former Conservative administration of the borough council scrutinised the new administration about the Oasis. I sat in disgust at the audacity of those Conservative councillors. The former administration entereed into the 99 years lease with Seven Capital. Proposed amendments to that lease could have extended the lease to 999 years. Without intervention from the local community and local Labour Party, what condition would the Oasis have been in? What deal would have been brokered? I dread to think. It took the former administration 4 months to respond to Keep Swindon Tidy re queries we had about the Oasis, and only after complaints were made.
Yet despite all evidence to the contrary, the Conservative Party in Swindon tell you that they care about the Oasis, that they care whether the Domebusters blah blah blah... I left the meeting early because I couldn't listen to any more of that. The awful situation at the Oasis is the legacy of the former administration and of a thoroughly corrupt government. Don't believe their lies! Councils around the country are struggling to provide services because we have been conned by the architects of austerity. This is one of the biggest scams in recent history, the looting of the public sector.