Thank you for your question to Council on April 26th under Procedure Rule 10. In reality, it is three questions and I will answer accordingly.

As Councillor Swindlehurst can inform you, since he was the relevant Commissioner at the time, this bus service was discontinued during the lifetime of the previous Labour administration. The buses ceased, except for a minimal socially necessary service, on 26th January, 2004.

Despite the promises of the former Labour administration and Councillor Swindlehurst in particular, as the then Commissioner for Planning and Transport, that every effort would be made to keep the full service or re-direct another to fill the gap, neither was successful.

The Liberal ward councillors' campaign was to retain the existing service and essentially the same as promised by Councillor Swindlehurst. We fulfilled our undertaking but can't be held liable for the failures of the Labour administration at that time or be expected to succeed in the infinitely more difficulty task of reinstating a service once it has been lost.

Any restoration will be dependent on funds becoming available from central government. Despite making promises to improve public transport before the 1997 General Election, little has been done in this respect by the Labour governments since then.

Burford Gardens residents had little realistic expectation of their windows being replaced under former Labour administrations despite alleged broken promises.

Over the years, I and the other ward Councillors have been very active in seeking to hold Labour to those alleged promises or otherwise secure early replacement of the windows.

I'm pleased to advise that under the new, joint BILLD and Conservative, administration the situation has changed favourably for the residents of Burford Gardens. Re-inspection since we came in to control of the Council has shown that the windows have deteriorated faster than previously acknowledge and they will be given priority in the Window Replacement Programme.

I am not in a position to confirm the exact timing of replacement but it will certainly be much earlier than would have been the case if Labour were still in control of the Council.

Free bus passes were announced in the recent Labour government budget but need primary legislation - in effect, they are a promise and not a reality. Although the Labour government was quick to announce free bus passes, it has not been so quick in enacting legislation to provide this or the necessary money and we don't yet have details of the arrangements or conditions that will be applied.

As all Members should be aware but especially your own Labour colleagues who held control of the Council and its budget prior to June 2004, it is not within the financial means of Slough Councillors' to fund such an entirely free bus-pass scheme. The joint administration of BILLD and Conservative members, including Liberal councillors for Haymill, has explored possible means of doing this.

The reality is that for any local authority to adequately provide an entirely free bus-pass scheme for qualifying groups, the Labour government (if re-elected) must deliver on the promises that it has made to the electorate.