A planning inspector has managed to cost Swansea Council an estimated £11 million windfall.

Just when everyone in the new and improved Lib Dem-led administration was hoping that Shambles@Swansea had been put to bed, so news emerges of another embarrassment for e-government.

Conservative group leader Rene Kinzett is claiming that an abortive payroll project due to be introduced by systems stalwarts CapGemini will end up costing local taxpayers £2 million.

From a punter's perspective, the most appropriate outcome would be for the company to get the bill as a result of "computer error".

A very unkind observation made by a predictably bitter source who was lamenting the loss of a chairmanship is that additional allowances are the carrot dangled to keep the coalition donkeys in line.

Others take the view that leader Chris Holley has pulled yet another successful stroke by keeping his own ideologically diverse ranks sweet whilst providing token scrutiny chairmanships to other political groups in the process.

This follows an earlier effective combination of spin & sincerity by the Lib Dems and Independents to persuade a biddable local press that their unique brand of electorally engineered autocracy represents a mandate of sorts - or at least that's the view expressed in some opposition quarters who were hoping to see a bit more media stick.

All that remains for others is the forlorn hope that the Lib Dem administration finally become as capable of running the city and its services as they are in securing a working majority.

Despite a spate of attempted pluralism among Tory and Labour leaderships, the news among the unwashed is that Lib Dem leader Chris Holley will announce tomorrow that he has sealed a deal with both Independent factions.

Rumour has it that Plaid Cymru might also be taking an active part in what could become known as the LIP coalition.

The votes have been counted and now the serious business of deal brokering begins.

Usually, the important question is whether a workable majority is possible. But in Swansea, the real issue for most councillors is who will command the committees - and the allowances that go with them.

For some, the prospect of opposition could be quite attractive.

So with just over 24 hours to go before it ceases to matter, the media-based battle between Labour and Lib Dems is a succession of full page adverts versus a steady drip of good news stories (Pool Sanctuary, 20 mph speed limits, Castle buildings, etc).

Whether any of this actually registers with an electorate who are being told on one hand that it's a local election whilst then being urged to punish the government in Westminster over a range of recent misdeeds is frankly anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, and in keeping with the tone of the campaign to date, we understand that the Electoral Commission is to receive an enquiry as to whether the incredibly timely announcements already mentioned are on the legal side of the purdah regulations.

We suspect that any eagerness to press for an answer will depend on the outcome of the election but it will add to the miseries of a legal section that is already under a very dark cloud.

Today's Western Mail highlights the seedy side of Swansea politics with the news that a printing outfit operated by Lib Dem councillor Peter May is producing election leaflets for Independent candidates.

The paper also quotes the Lib Dem-led administration as stating that staff should not shoulder the blame for poorly performing social services in the city. They are quite right. As it happens, most people believe the fault lies with those at the top who allowed things to deteriorate so badly.

This time last year, the Beans on Toast examined how the Lib Dems were performing in office compared to their pre-election promises.

Will the exercise be repeated next week- or would that be too unhelpful?

While speculation continues over tory election chances on Thursday following another arrest, we can reveal that the assessment volunteered by a party insider in an Uplands pub last night is "We're f****d".

The view is clearly shared by Lib Dem leader Chris Holley who could hardly contain his glee on the radio this morning.

Meanwhile, Labour took the initiative by stating that Gordon Brown has indeed met real people during his recent visit when he stopped off at David Phillips' house for a coffee. (?)

Following revelations that a former Swansea Labour politico had penned letters under assumed names, the good and nearly great of other parties hurried to disassociate themselves with such disreputable practices.

Among these was Conservative Rene Kinzett who told the media that it would be "stupid" for anyone in the political sphere to attempt to impersonate a member of the public. He will probably wish to reflect on these comments - according to last night's news reports.

The gist is that a tory candidate for Uplands has been shopped for faking names on his nomination papers.

No doubt more will emerge as the day progresses but we hear that the local Lib Dems have already sent off an e-mail to David Cameron demanding that he disassociates himself with the individual.

Update: the local version.

Having sniped at the Beeb's coverage of local elections in Wales - with good reason - it's refreshing to read this this balanced analysis from a local on-line correspondent.

It makes a change from Betsan Powis pretending she knows what she's talking about or studio presenters asking party leaders to comment on a level of government that they either ignore or else level vague threats for the other 200 weeks of a council term.

But the best example of how out of touch the media has become with what goes on local authorities is the Beeb election-special promo in which a voice bemoans "I've been waiting ages for my operation".

They'll be waiting a lot longer as councils stopped having anything to do with the management of hospitals in the early 1960s.

Whatever positive PR has been achieved by the people behind Elsie in recent weeks is likely evaporate if it's top man continues to sound less than concerned over accidents.

Statements that the incident was "not the deep water part of the pool" is hardly the kind of response that the public expect from an organisation charged with running of a council-owned facility.

The means by which Swansea Council intends meeting its aim of providing a swift election results service became clear with the revelation that postal ballot papers have been issued with a Labour logo alongside the name of a tory candidate.

Apparently, someone picked up the idea during a recent visit to Zimbabwe

OK, so it wasn't the most decisive way to win the championship but it's the result that counts. Innit?

Now we have to wait for the stream of well-wishing election candidates who couldn't even name half a dozen members of the team, let alone appreciate their achievement to jump on the bandwagon.

Lib Dem AM and councillor Peter Black has some views (so what else is new?) regarding decision-making and accountability within local government.

It's strange, but he was far less equivical about the root cause of the problem nearly four years ago.

(The) Cabinet/Scrutiny system has concentrated power in the hands of fewer councillors, often from just the one party. Abandoning the real committee system means that most councillors are left just to 'scrutinise' decisions, and not to take part in them. This has been an expensive failure. It has been bad for local decision-making, bad for local democracy and bad for local communities.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats encourage all councils to abandon the cabinet system and return to a more open system. This would allow all councillors to be part of the decision-making process, so that all sections of the community would have an input.
From Lib-Dem AM Peter Black's website - 27 May 2004

In Swansea, other than a few changes in portfolio descriptions, the content and process for the cabinet system is precisely teh same as operated under the previous regime including roles, responsibilities, meetings, pre-meetings and report clearing . Even the agenda format is identical.

Perhaps this is all part of the "settling down" process he mentions. However, time is running out.

According to the news on Beeb in Wales this morning, the new Amazon distribution complex which gets officially opened today by Rodders is sited "on the outskirts of Swansea" - a geographical description which should please Neath Port Talbot council no end.

Welsh councils face re-organisation unless they pull their socks up, according to Assembly minister Brain Gibbons. This is of course the same Dr Gibbons who performed so well in his role in his health portfolio that he was promoted to …. err, something else.

In an outbreak of pre-election objectivity, the Bean on Toast is taking Chris Holley to task because they feel his claims about a ferry service linking Swansea to Devon are "grossly exaggerated" - which is a bit of a cheek.

For all the understandably sceptical editorial comment, the betting is that no matter how improbable the scheme may sound, the ferry will be in service long before the paper ever makes a start on upgrading its Adelaide Street premises.

The Lib Dems may be guilty of hype but the local press is also in the dock - so to speak - and should probably be asking for many thousands of similar offences to be taken into consideration.

In the same way that the media rediscover homelessness every Christmas, so the Beeb have decided that local government is really important after all - in the absence of any Cardiff City FA Cup yada-yada.

Today's revelation, according to someone's statistics is that efforts to dump the image of Welsh councils being run by elderly white men have failed. The average age has apparently gone up from 61.3 to 61.7 years and the number of women councillors has hardly risen at all.

The situation can hardly be helped in Swansea where the Lib Dems have ditched their youngest councillor in advance of next month's elections and Labour have done the same to their only ethnic minority representative - both of them women.

On a similar vein, Plaid Cymru are calling for innovation in local authorities. Pardon the heresy, but wouldn't it be innovative for one of the political parties to actually have councillors fronting up their local government election campaigns for a change.

There is a note of indignation in the comments by Peter Black over news that that former independents in Neath Port Talbot have defected to Labour before May's elections - although you can easily imagine him rationalising the situation differently if the Lib Dems had benefitted from such a move.

A case in point is the lack of an excuse as to why his party is not fielding a candidate to take back Mayals ward from parliamentary hopeful Rene Kinzett who defected to the tories midway through his term. Even so, it's interesting to read the AM's views on wasted votes.

There is nothing to stop people changing their colours - nor should there be - but it is surely for electors to decide if it is more honest to do the deed before the event rather than doing it afterwards, as happened with the likes of June Stanton, Sylvia Lewis and Keith Morgan.

As the week draws to a close, there is a strange absence of announcements of new plans and strategies from Chris Holley and his cabinet. The reason is a pre-election clampdown or "purdah" which prevents local government officers from being seen to promote one particular political party or coalition.

Unable to rely on the Council press corps to peddle the pro-coalition message, the Swansea Administration has to fall back on their own media management skills - which mostly involves press releases about Peter Black.

Of course, the rules don't seem to apply to arms-length bodies which manage Elsie and the Liberty Stadium. We anticipate more good news stories from the same sources as election day gets closer.

Councils in Wales have been told by the Welsh Assembly Government that they can no longer use car parking charges to supplement their income.

But they didn't say anything about planning application and licensing fees, bulk refuse items, pest control call outs or burial & cremation charges, did they?

It's always amazing the things people say when they're out having a good time in Wind Street (Swansea's favourite binge spot).

Among the well-watered souls littering a certain hostelry over the weekend was a senior council officer who let slip news that staff plan to hold meetings on the steps of County Hall, a.k.a. Civic Centre, in protest at the lack of parking facilities. We understand that a series of special events - the code for unofficial stoppages - are scheduled in the run up to May's elections.

As a result of lost facilities and space taken up by the bendy-bus terminus, some staff are having to come in 45 minutes early just to grab a parking space while others claim that the official travel arrangements are a joke.

As one of staff volunteered between sips of his shandy, "It's all very well to jabber on about returning the building to the people but who do these pr--ks think is dealing with the public. Try getting a councillor to come down to meet a pissed off client and see what happens".

Ooer!

The unofficial sweep as to which of the Lib Dem contributors to the local newspaper website would be first to defend Peter May's claims to be looking after Swansea's private sector tenants has been called off without winner.

The deadline passed some hours ago but the usual suspects all failed to come out in support of the hugely popular Uplands councillor.

Meanwhile, Rodders and whoever is Secretary of State for Wales these days, are both in town today - having remembered that local government has elections from time to time. Both claim that the One-Wales agreement will not stop Labour from targeting Plaid Cymru seats.

Neither seem to have picked up that the trend in Swansea tends to be in other direction.

It's been said that there is no such thing as bad publicity - and Swansea's tories might well agree. Despite getting a finger wagging from the local neighbourhood watch association over who snuffed the Flam festival at Singleton Park, they nevertheless managed to get all their candidates named.

It's interesting to note that the list included Gay Mitchell, an active opponent and a former Swansea Independent Association candidate.

It's also worth a smirk to see that the received wisdom is that it was the weather that caused the cancellation and not the possibility that very few of the acts claimed by the organisers had ever actually been booked.