Tories’ 4.1% council tax hike

At the Test Valley Borough Council meeting held on Friday 22 February the council voted to accept the Tory controlled Cabinet’s recommendation to raise Council Tax by 4.1%.  A proposal by the Liberal Democrats to freeze council tax for another year was defeated.

Councillor Hurst, leader of Test Valley Liberal Democrats said “the administration’s approach is to raise council tax because they can whereas the Liberal Democrat approach would be to freeze council tax because we can.”

He went on to say “It is important that the council recognise the financial difficulties that a lot of residents are in and that we need to do all we can to ensure that they keep as much money in their pockets as possible to support the local economy.  The council shouldn’t be taking more money than it immediately needs and simply putting it in the bank with no firm plans for using it”.

Freezing council tax was one of 3 options put to the cabinet by the Test Valley finance officer but they rejected it.   They chose to raise taxes by the maximum amount before government sanctions were triggered and a referendum would be required.   In so doing they gave up a government grant of £60,000 available if the council had frozen council tax.

“The suggestion that by giving Test Valley Council a dispensation to raise the rates by up to 4.1% that the government actually wanted us to do it was laughable” said Councillor Hurst.   “We proposed a council tax freeze and suggested that instead of putting all of next year’s £1.6m New Homes Grant into the bank 7% of it should be used to offset the proposed tax rise.  This would be equivalent to 0.2% of the council’s current investment portfolio”.

At the council meeting the Finance Officer was able to provide a positive assurance about the level of the council’s reserves even if council tax was frozen.

Councillor Hurst went on to say “we are not naive about this, we recognise that council tax rates will have to rise in due course as the current levels are not sustainable but this is simply not the year to do it.  The spectre of a triple dip recession still stalks the country and we have just lost our triple A credit rating.  If we can avoid raising taxes next year then we should”.

 

 

bus station costs soar by 20%

Bus station

Costs of the long awaited rebuild of Andover’s bus station have soared by £500,000 because of delays in completing the project. The initial cost of £2.4 million has now been revised to £2.9 million. The increase is because of last minute changes and delays with legal negotiations.

Once again the county council has failed to deliver on a major project and allowed the costs to soar. The bus station plans have been in place for over ten years. There is no excuse for the delays or the increased costs. Andover has been promised a new bus station the council should now deliver on that promise. What a pity it’s costing another half a million pounds of public money to do so.

Work is expected to start on the project in March. The new bus station will have extra capacity for buses, a new waiting room and café, and office space. The bus station will be closed for twelve months while work is completed.

 

Come clean on road repairs

St Johns Rd Team

I have put in formal requests to Hampshire County Council to release figures on how well they do at repairing roads.

It is a common complaint from residents that they report potholes and broken paving but no action is taken. Too often they are left with no option but to sue the council for compensation. Over £75,000 has been paid out for trips and falls in Andover alone. I have even heard councillors advise residents to sue the council for repairs to cars damaged by pot holes.

I requested details of the number of potholes and broken paving stones reported and repaired in the last year together with costs and time taken to carry out repairs. I hope to see money is being spent wisely and effectively to keeps our roads and pavements safe.

I also asked for details on Operation Resilience. The much publicised project to “future-proof” the road network has received over £6 million of government funding. Only 116 miles of roads were resurfaced in 2011/12 with just 77 miles of resurfacing planned for 2012/13. This doesn’t sound a lot to me. Perhaps too much money is being spent on compensating those suffering from the shoddy state of our roads and paths. Surely it’s better to repair them properly in the first place?

Andover Farmers market

Farmers Market Web

The Hampshire farmers market will be in Andover High Street on the third Sunday of each month from February to December.

There were fears that the market would not continue after a fall in numbers of visitors during 2011. A “New Look” market started in January 2012 and wil continue this year.

Working as I do in the local farming industry I know how improtant the market is for showcasing local produce. The quality matches anything on offer in supermarkets. And it is produced locally. To keep the market and support local farmers we all need to use it. So why not take a look and see what it has to offer.

Action on footpaths

Watery Lane

Cllr Katherine Bird is working with council and housing officers to get the footpath between Colenzo Drive and Watery Lane re-instated. The path was fenced off without local consultation and the area became a dumping ground for rubbish.

Following Katherine’s calls Testway Housing and Test Valley Highways have agreed to remove the rubbish and damaged fence from the area.

Test Valley adopts Lib Dem council tax policy

With Cllr Katherine Bird at TVBC Offices

Test Valley Borough Council has agreed to implement changes to council tax introduced by Lib Dem Communities Minister Andrew Stunnell. The changes allow councils to end the council tax discount on second homes which cost local taxpayers £55,000 a year.

The new proposals also allow the council to charge an empty homes premium on any home left empty for more than two years. The extra income generated will go towards funding a local council tax support scheme which replaces council tax benefit this year.

Welcoming the news Cllr Katherine Bird said “Ending the discount will bring thousands of pounds back to support local services and help those most in need rather than helping those with multiple homes.”

I am delighted to see local Tories are making use of this initiative introduced by Lib Dems in the coalition. As well as generating extra income, these plans will help bring many urgently needed empty homes back into use.

Revising the unfair council tax system has always been a Lib Dem priority. We are delivering on that priority.

County’s energy shambles

Solar Power

    Hampshire Conservatives have once again been caught up in an embarrassing mess, after  it emerged that they had forfeited £1.4 million in taxpayers’ money, paying for the County’s excessive energy emissions.

The County Council must pay a levy for every tonne of carbon emissions as a result of electricity and gas use, but residents were shocked to find that very little progress has been made to reduce emissions, with the County’s energy plan in tatters.

Local campaigners have accused the County of ‘dithering’ and failing to get on with the job, which has now led to the £1.4 million bill. Plans for solar panels on buildings were ditched last year, meaning the County missed out on  maximum savings in energy bills that could have been used to keep Council tax down and protect local services.

Hampshire County is already ranked in the bottom half of the national energy efficiency league table, and it seems it hasn’t learnt it’s lesson after it was announced Conservative Council bosses were considering a blanket ban on windfarms, a move described as ‘bonkers’ by local campaigners. Residents fear this backwards thinking will mean another massive tax bill next year.

Local people are fed up of this needless waste of their money by the Conservative-run Council. If the County had got on with the job, it could have made our buildings more energy efficient and generated green electricity to save taxpayers money.It’s now paying the price, paying taxes for burning up excess carbon. Worse, it’s local residents who are once again being punished for Conservative County Chiefs’ dithering.

 

County invests in Belfast over Andover

High Street

While the Lib Dems have got real action on pensions, local residents have been horrified to learn that Conservative-run Hampshire County Council has been investing cash Belfast’s Tesco, while rejecting to help local jobs in Andover!

CBRE Global Investors, acting on behalf of the County Council, has bought a £6.26m Tesco foodstore on Main Street in Limavady, with local businesses here continuing to struggle.

It is scandalous that when investment is so badly needed in Hampshire, our own County doesn’t just stand by, but actively invests elsewhere! Hampshire’s Pension Fund can and should be used to get high returns for Hampshire people.

Pension funds should be used to support local jobs and housing. Andover needs investment in jobs, and shops. When will the Conservative County Council start to back the Andover economy, with money for jobs, shops, services and homes for Andover residents?

Andover can’t afford any more Conservative waste and cuts!

 

19870 local pensioners get £5.30 rise

Grenville 2

Pensioners in Andover receiving the basic state pension are now £5.30 a week better off thanks to the Lib Dems.

This means that since the last general election 19,870 pensioners living in our area are almost £10 a week better off.  I’m delighted that pensioners are being given the respect they deserve. This is in stark contrast to the last Labour Government which insulted pensioners with a 75p a week rise.

The Lib Dems’ pensions ‘triple lock guarantee’ means that the basic state pension will go up every year. It will rise in line with earnings, inflation, or by 2.5% – whichever is higher.

A guaranteed pension rise every year!

Lorry controls on Cricketers Way

For many months residents of Cricketers Way have commented on the unsafe reversing of lorries delivering to local stores. This was a matter I raised with Test Valley’s highways department about two years ago.

After my initial requests surveys of lorry movements were made and the highways officers wrote to the store asking for a review of safety regulations. Lorries should only reverse along the access road under supervision of a member of staff with adequate training and appropriate hi-vis clothing.

Despite this there have been a number of occasions when the rules have been flouted. Town councillor Barbara Carpenter and I have since been working with residents, highways and environmental health officers to ensure the safety rules are obeyed.

A Freedom of Information request showed no action had been taken after my previous calls to the highways department. I therefore requested the council undertake a survey of traffic movements to ensure drivers were following safe practice. That survey has now been completed and incidents “not in accordance with company delivery procedures” were observed.

This will now be taken up with the company and the council will be seeking confirmation of their agreed procedures and actions they may be taking in light of what has been witnessed.