Promise 45

We will make sure that schools will be at the heart of each community delivering a range of services to meet the community’s needs. An extra 210 childcare places will be provided and we’ll provide even more support for families to help them maintain their independence.

Progress

Achieved.

Promise 46

We will remove all racist or obscene graffiti within one working day of it being reported.

Progress

The promise is being consistently met and this type of graffiti is tackled with priority.

Promise 47

We will work with our partners towards reducing crime by 17.5%, focusing in particular on the town’s crime hotspots by installing additional fixed and mobile CCTV cameras.

Progress

There are four elements to this promise and three of them are being met well.

We are continuing to work well with partners, and have been shortlisted for a number of awards for our partnership working to reduce crime.

Hotspot analysis continues to play an important role in such partnership working, and has enabled agencies to deliver reductions in anti-social behaviour and particular crime types.

On CCTV development, legal issues regarding capital, property and image copyright have been resolved, clearing the way for further development towards a single control room in line with the Cabinet decision.

Crime continues to reduce, although not at the level stated in the promise.

Promise 48

We will remove all abandoned cars on council land or a public highway within 48 hours of being reported.

Progress

This promise is consistently being achieved. The current high scrap prices, producer responsibility for the disposal of vehicles, and the Scrappage scheme are reducing numbers of abandoned vehicles.

Promise 49

We will recycle, compost or treat more than 50% of household waste and, where practical, we will provide kerbside recycling collection for all our residents.

Progress

Quarter 1 outturn has shown that we are at 48.5% against a target of 50%, an improvement of 3% against the first quarter last year.

Mixed plastics were introduced in July and increased garden waste tonnage over the summer months should move us closer towards 50% from our 44.89% outturn last year.

We continue to push towards 50%, however the last couple of percentage points will be the most difficult to achieve.

Promise 50A

Through better safety initiatives on the roads we control, we will reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads by 40%.

Progress

We are continuing to closely monitor all Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) figures against the target figure of 57 for the 12 months leading up to 31 December 2009.

Whilst Swindon has one of the best records in the south-west, data for the first six months of 2009 unfortunately report 41 KSIs recorded. This suggests that despite our relatively good performance, the target may not be achieved.

We are not complacent about this and work on the Strategic Plan for Accident Reduction (SPAR) report is progressing ready for report to Cabinet in November 2009. Discussions with the Road Safety Partnership are on-going and we have the potential to provide a new model for other road safety partnerships. As well as this we are working closely with partners to develop and implement a number of educational campaigns and safety schemes to address accident blackspots and it is hoped some of these schemes will be implemented by the end of December 2009.

Promise 50B

Through better safety initiatives on the roads we control, we will reduce the number  the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50%.

Progress

The targeted reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured was achieved prior to the required date, allowing resources to be concentrated on managing adult KSI's and maintaining the reduction in Child KSI's.

A new initiative is underway for School Safety Zones as a pilot involving five schools, in addition to safety schemes.

The benefit of regular monitoring of accidents was identified and we are working with partners to help understand the underlying issues.