The open secret of politically controlled community Facebook groups
"It would be good for people to be aware that when they are joining 'Community' groups they are getting a politically biased curated view of the world."
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Swindon’s community Facebook groups covertly controlled by political parties
Community Facebook groups are everywhere. Every area of Swindon now has one and, in the main, they are vital and positive places where people can go to post about the issues facing their communities from missing cats to what bins need to be put out on which day. They have become a commonplace and necessary part of Swindon’s daily life.
But across Swindon there are community Facebook groups that might not be all they seem as they have been set up by members of a political party who use it to further their own agenda and there are even extreme examples where they are used to silence and block members of opposing political parties.
It must be stressed there’s nothing illegal about this type of activity on community Facebook groups. Anyone can set up a group and impose their own rules and standards. But shouldn’t a group be transparent in its agenda instead of lulling its users into thinking that it is an apolitical page that is there to help the community as a whole and not just certain people who have the ‘right’ politics?
By Barrie Hudson and Jamie Hill
It sounds like something that could happen in dystopian fiction.
A medium is created that, by subterfuge, is there solely to pursue one political agenda and any dissenting voices will be silenced.
But this is Swindon, not a work of fantasy.
And we’re talking about the town’s community Facebook groups - not state-controlled media.
Community Facebook Groups have become vital tools for any area in recent times. Usually they are run voluntarily by community-minded folk who only wish the best for the area they live in. These volunteers selflessly spend their time moderating the threads and ensuring that the group has certain standards. It is often a thankless task but the role of the admins is to make sure that the group doesn’t fall into the chaos of endless business ads or posts that just set out to offend and troll.
But it has been an open secret that some of these groups aren’t all they seem, having been created by members of political parties pursue their own agendas.
There are community Facebook groups across the town that have been set up by Conservative or Labour councillors in Swindon. Not a single one of them states that they are a politically controlled page and so users are completely unaware that this is the case (unless they’ve gone out of their way to check out who the admins actually are of these groups).
Although, at The Ink, we were already aware that this was happening, this particular phenomenon was brought into focus this week because of the actions of a Tory-controlled group.
It started off quite innocently on the Liden Community Page where one of the users wanted to tag the Labour borough councillor for the area Mike Davies in a post to bring an issue to his attention, only to find that their local elected representative had been blocked by the admins.
Looking closer, we were able to ascertain that the group is run by Conservative borough councillors Kevin and Barbara Parry, who incidentally is the borough’s current Mayor.
They might have every reason to have blocked Cllr Davies and it might not even be politically motivated but it does seem wrong that a person elected to serve a community is denied access to a group which also serves the community.
On closer inspection, it seems there are several other groups in the area run by the Parrys.
The Nythe Community Group is also run by the husband and wife team. As well as the Coleview Community Group. As well as the Covingham Community Group.
Cllr Davies said: “You can see this issue has been around for a while! It is a shame as I think it's a blight on the democratic process being caused by elected representatives.
“Nothing illegal is happening here, but it would be good for people to be aware that when they are joining ‘Community’ groups they are getting a Conservative-curated view of the world.”
It should be mentioned, for the sake of balance, that Cllr Davies himself is the admin of other community Facebook groups in the area - although to our knowledge none have been accused of excluding posters on political grounds.
Across the way in the Parks area of the town it’s the same story with Conservative Councillor Bazil Solomon running the Park South Community Facebook Group as well as a group called the Liden, Eldene, Parks, Wichelstowe, Old Town, New Town community group.
According to Cllr Davies, the former Labour chair of South Swindon Parish Council Chris Watts had been denied access to the group because of his political affiliation.
To give him credit though, Bazil Solomon doesn’t hide the fact that he is a councillor with a political affiliation but he is not above a bit of politicking when necessary.
Here’s a post he put up yesterday on the Liden, Eldene, Parks, Wichelstowe, Old Town, New Town community group…
According to Jim Robbins, the Labour leader of Swindon Borough Council, there is definitely an issue where politicians have set up groups and then refuse permission for opposing councillors to join.
He said: “There is no rule anywhere that says that they have to let anyone join the group, but it can be frustrating for councillors who aren't members to have residents tell them that questions are being asked of them in the group but they can't see them or respond.
“Elected representatives should have access to the online spaces where large numbers of residents are congregating for conversations, so that they can get involved and help people with questions and casework.
“I think Councillors also have a duty to keep conversations on the group focused on local issues, and not use it as a place for political arguments with the opposition."
Over in Priory Vale, a similar pattern emerges.
The most popular group is the Priory Vale Community Group. The admins of that group are Conservative MP for North Swindon Justin Tomlinson and Conservative Borough Councillor Vinay Manro.
The group was originally created in 2007 so it’s been around a long time.
But for years there has been reports of Labour members being denied access to the group.
And that is why in 2013, an opposing group called ‘Priory Vale, North Swindon *Official*’ was formed by a group of residents with no political affiliation.
The top line of the group states “Welcome to the premier residents group for Priory Vale, North Swindon, without any political affiliation (unlike the other group with a similar name).”
North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson said: “I am not an active admin, nor have I been for about 10 years!
“There are many excellent community groups which residents enjoy posting on, sharing community events or promoting local businesses. Some are run by residents, and some by political groups of all persuasions – ultimately residents will posts where they wish, with good, positive groups the ones that the most interesting and active. I very much doubt many residents would wish to engage in petty political debates, myself included!”
The groups other admin Cllr Manro said: “Facebook groups are a valuable tool for community cohesion, information sharing and community questions.
“I have never managed the group as a councillor. I have involved myself in the group as a local resident living in Priory Vale long before ever even thinking of becoming a councillor, and continue to do so to this day as a resident. The two roles are very separate.
“The group is an asset to the local area. As a fellow resident I welcome all Priory Vale residents to get involved provided they adhere to relatively simple group rules which are discussed by the group annually to ensure the community are involved and have their say.
“I can recall a couple of examples where the Priory Vale group provided support to fellow residents.
“When IMH took over some Swindon GP surgeries, which caused a lot of problems and distress for local residents. The group was able to not only listen to concerns, try to answer concerns with GP surgery managers, The Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group representatives, and residents offered support for each other, which really showed community spirit.
“More recently the current debacle with the change to bin and recycling collections being rolled out in one of the busiest months for recycling & waste collections has seen more questions than answers. The group has been used to ensure accurate information is available to residents, signposting and many in the group offering support to others.
“All in all the group has become a central hub for social events, community rapport, and without fail a place for a recommendation for a plumber, electrician or window cleaner.”
It does need to be emphasised that there are several community groups set up by Labour members too but it is a sad state of affairs when seemingly innocent community groups have been turned into political battlegrounds.
It also needs to be highlighted that there are also several community groups that have no political affiliation at all and are run by volunteers doing it solely for the good of the area that they live in.
Examples of these are the West Swindon Community Group run by former Link editor Roger Ogle and The Old Town Community Group.
One of the biggest and most popular groups in the town is the Swindon Community Notice Board, which currently has 83,000 members.
Debra Collins, one of the admins, said: “When I moved to Swindon back in 2015, I noticed that there were loads of little groups but nothing that covered Swindon as a whole town. Lost items and ‘can anyone recommend’ was on ‘for sale’ groups.
“There was a Swindon Notice Board but it had less than 900 people and was full of MLM ads, no members actually interacting. So SCNB was created, to help each other and be a central place to go, to bring the whole town together under one roof.
“It didn’t matter what political party you were in as we are all residents of Swindon, and surrounding villages so therefore it was decided that politics doesn’t apply and we (the admins) made it clear that we wouldn’t stand for the group being used as a political sounding board for anyone.
“Also, no territorial behaviours, like other groups, we are all equal, we all want to see a better Swindon regardless. This ethos has worked so far and hence it has grown into the beast it is today.
“I’m going to be honest here. There are two areas of Swindon that have political and extremely territorial groups. These are Haydon Wick and North Swindon.
“I have seen this myself over the years and quite frankly, it shouldn’t be about a political party, it’s supposed to be about the community they cover. It was a good lesson to see how not to do it to be honest.
“I understand why people feel that way and that’s why we won’t let SCNB fall into the hands of anyone in the council. We have SBC as a moderator but only because we have had a few welfare posts which they have helped us with (child neglect) etc. other than that, they have no association with the admins at all. We did however have a great association during Covid and worked with SBC to co-ordinate and help support people too.
“As admins we try our best. We have a great bunch and most are made up of good admins from other decent groups. It works extremely well.”
As Debra said, these groups should be for the people as a whole and not just a means of party politicking.
And any groups that do have a political affiliation should definitely not hide it. It should be clear for all to see.
They should also have the courage of their convictions to not silence opposing voices but have the ability to have transparent political discourse.
It’s about serving the community as a whole and not just themselves and their particular political worldview.
The Ink News Briefing
Possible job losses as council faces financial 'cliff edge’ - Swindon Borough Council leader Cllr Jim Robbins yesterday outlined the 'extremely serious' state of the authority's finances. This comes after a Local Government Association report described the borough’s financial situation as being on a cliff edge. Read More
Work begins on Health Hydro façade as new funding bid submitted - The work is part of a £6.9m refurbishment programme which is being funded using money from the Council, the Government’s Towns Fund and Historic England. Read More
New NHS services tackles gambling addiction - Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has launched the South West Gambling Service. Read More
Swindon venue hosts dual art exhibition - Tomorrow - Saturday 9 December - sees Artsite & The Post Modern host a dual dual exhibition by Adam Crosland and SLART. Read More
The Ink Piece
The Friday Culture Vulture
Stellar lineup for Forest Live 2024 announced
A culture column by Jessica Durston
The Forest Live team, (who host the summer concert series presented by Forestry England), have announced that Gregory Porter is the latest artist to join the star-studded bill.
Porter will perform at Westonbirt Arboretum for the first time next summer. The critically-acclaimed American jazz, blues, and soul singer will be taking to the stunning forest venue on Thursday 4 July 2024.
Gregory Porter’s last five albums have all reached the Top 10, with ‘Take Me To The Alley’ (2016), ‘Nat King Cole & Me’ (2017) and ‘All Rise’ (2020) hitting the Top 5.
A double Grammy-winner (Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘Liquid Spirit’ (2014) and Best Jazz Vocal Album for ‘Take Me To The Alley’ (2017) and seven-time Grammy nominee, the singer and songwriter has amassed cumulative streams of 1.6 billion and counting.
A spokesperson for the artist said: “Since breaking through almost a decade ago with ‘Liquid Spirit’, Gregory has become a beloved part of the British cultural firmament. The Californian cat-in-the-hat has played at numerous festivals, including Glastonbury (where he wowed the Pyramid Stage) and Radio 2’s Live in Hyde Park.
“He performed multiple times for the late HM Queen Elizabeth II, most recently as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and has also appeared before HM King Charles III.”
Also performing at Westonbirt Arboretum next year, is pop princess Anne Marie (5 July) and disco icons Nile Rodgers & CHIC (12 July).
Furthermore, Forestry England says it uses the money Forest Live raises to maintain beautiful natural areas for everyone to enjoy, run important conservation projects and keep growing trees.
Last year the organisation planted around 7.4 million trees, caring for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests sustainably, and welcoming 291 million visits in 2022-23.
A spokesperson from Forestry England said: “Everyone in England lives within a one-hour drive of one of the nation’s forests. Over two million people have enjoyed the Forest Live gigs over the last twenty-three years.”
Fans can sign up for more information and announcements at forestlive.com.
Pre-sale tickets were available from 9am yesterday (Thursday 7 December) and general sale started at 9am today (Friday 8 December).
What’s On - Weekly events roundup: 8 December - 15 December
● Swindon Recital Series at Swindon Arts Centre. Sunday 10 December from 3pm. More information here
● Eric Mylod-Okafo Quartet at The Royal Oak (Jazz Knights Tuesday Live Jazz Sessions). Tuesday 12 December from 8pm. More information here
● The Hump Day Quiz at The Tuppenny. Wednesday 13 December from 7.30pm. More information here
● The Jerseys (Jersey Boys tribute show) at Swindon Meca. Thursday 14 December at 7.30pm. More information here
● XSLF (Ex Stiff Little Fingers guitarist Henry Clune) and Borrowed Time at The Victoria (live music night). Friday 15 December at 8.30pm. More information here
The Swindon Link Magazine Archive
Over on The Ink’s sister publication Swindon Link’s website you will find an impressive archive of the past 45 years of Swindon Link magazines, giving you a huge glimpse into the town’s recent past from the beginnings of West Swindon to now. You can find the archive here
The latest magazines
For the North West Swindon Link Magazine click here
For the South East Swindon Link Magazine click here
This is great! Thank you for picking this up and running with it.