Allotments costs don’t add up

At last week’s Andover Town Council meeting I queried the costs of running the town’s allotments because the fiugres recently published don’t add up.

In a letter to allotment holders the chairman of the town council’s allotment committee outlined the costs of running the allotments at almost £22,000 and to balance the books they have raised rents accordingly.

Until the town council took control of allotments they were run and maintained by Test Valley Borough Council the costs being charged to all residents through the Andover levy. Therefore I must assume TVBC were spending about £22,000 a year of the levy on running the town’s allotments.

When Andover Town Council took control of the allotments there was a reduction in the Andover levy of just £15,661. So what happened to the rest of our money?

If Andover residents have been paying £22,000 per year to TVBC for them to run the allotments then now they are being run by ATC then the Andover levy should be reduced by this amount. For a council that prides itself on prudence and value for money I am surprised that no-one on Andover TC has asked this. or is it that someone can’t add up?

I was also disappointed to hear the chair of the council (who as a non-resident of Andover doesn’t pay the levy) dismissing this as just a small amount of money. I also wonder with so many Test Valley Borough councillors sitting on the town council (many of whom were opposed to the formation of a town council) whether there may be conflicts of interest here. Have these figures been given due attention before the agreement to transfer the allotments was completed?

I have submitted a list of written questions on this and look forward to the council’s response.

Andover Trees United

A new seven acre woodland, part of the new Queen Elizabeth Wood Andover, and one of the nation’s 60 Diamond Woods to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee, is being planted at Augusta Park. The wood is next to the new playing fields on the north east side of the development. Planting and management is being carried out by a local community group, Andover Trees United.

The aim of Andover Trees United is for every young person in the town and surrounding villages, over a ten-year period, to have contributed to the woodland by planting a tree in their school nursery bed and later moving it to the woodland itself. The woodland will be there for schools, young people and the whole of our community to plant, maintain and enjoy.

November 26th to December 7th 2012 is the planting fortnight.

Many helping hands are needed for this and for replenishing the school nursery beds afterwards. Offers of help for half a day or the whole fortnight will all be gratefully received. If you wish to be involved there are a variety of tasks available not necessarily physical.

If you would like to help with the planting or join the team of School Support Gardeners to help by planting up school nursery bed, please contact Wendy Davis at [email protected]

You can find more details of the project at
http://earthrestorationservice.org and http://www.transitiontownandover.org.uk/8.html

Action at Vigo Road

Andover Lib Dem Councillor Nigel Long has worked with local residents to deal with anti-social behaviour at Vigo Road Recreation ground.

Nigel consulted local people and brought their views to the borough council for action. As a result benches will be relocated elsewhere in the park and the hedge/fence will be repaired and trimmed. Trees will be trimmed back to allow the footpath to be properly lit in the evenings. Funding has been found to put a barrier in at the car park.

Acre Path residents’ chairman Peter Steele congratulated Nigel on the work done so far to improve the area. Nigel will continue to work with the residents to ensure any problems in the
area are dealt with quickly and effectively.
Lib Dems working on your side.

Services under threat

Many residents have expressed shock about further library cuts made by Conservative-run Hampshire County Council: this time the axe has fallen on 29 mobile libraries across the County.

This is a bitter blow to the community. Mobile libraries are a lifeline to a lot of people living in rural areas, particularly elderly and disabled residents. I am particularly disappointed to see they have ignored local residents’ views and cut the library service to Enham Alamein.

The Conservatives have designated Andover library a key library but won’t increase opening hours to the target 50 hours for another two years.

Now museums may be under threat as well

Local people have been put on red alert after it emerged that Hampshire Conservatives have put all of the County’s Museums, Arts Centres and Cultural Services under threat of closure. Hampshire County Council plan to handover control of these vital services to a ‘Trust’, meaning local people no longer have a say on how they’re run, and putting them at risk of more funding cuts and even closure.

Working for Pilgrims Way

Local residents in Pilgrims Way have expressed their delight at the work being done in the area to improve the environment.

Lib Dem councillors Katherine Bird and Nigel Long are working with Aster Housing, Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council to get action for Pilgrims Way.

Many road signs have already been replaced, and the remainder will be changed in the next few years. All the trees on the estate will be surveyed and overgrown trees will be cut back or removed.

Safety has been improved around the electricity substation and the surrounds tidied.

Katherine and Nigel are also seeking funding for an additional footpath along the spine road. “We’ll keep pressing the local Councils to get things done for local residents,” Katherine said.

who will you trust on crime?

November’s important Police and Crime Commissioner election will decide the future of policing in our area.

Here in Andover it’s a straight choice between the Conservatives, who have let down Hampshire residents on crime and failed to protect front-line police from cuts, or the Lib Dems who have stood up against County waste and cuts and campaigned to keep front-line police on our streets!

The Conservatives running Hampshire have the wrong priorities. They voted to make further cuts to the police budget just days after a resident was shot in both legs by armed raiders, ignoring warnings from the Chief Constable that this could remove 100 police officers from our streets. Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Labour and UKIP are always out of the race and can’t win. It’s a choice between experienced campaigner David Goodall or the Conservative candidate with links to a jailed £29million fraudster.

Experienced police campaigner David Goodall will work hard to protect your home and family as Hampshire’s first elected Police Commissioner. David is son to a retired Hampshire police inspector and brother to a serving officer, and is promising a fresh and effective approach to making our homes and streets safer. Hampshire Councillor David wants action to bring local people and police closer together to deal with problems of crime and anti-social behaviour. David will make sure we get maximum resources to frontline policing, working with communities to make sure that those resources are used where they are needed most.

November’s election is a straight choice – sorting out the future of policing in our area or even more broken promises, funding cuts and YOUR money wasted!

SCHOOLS SHAMBLES

Parents in Andover have been shocked by the news that Hampshire County Council local schools will be around 10,000 school places short within the next Decade, and won’t even have enough places for all the reception year children this September. The Conservative led County Council have admitted that there is a shortfall in places for this coming September. And the shortfall is predicted to get even worse in future years!

Temporary classrooms were abolished when the Lib Dems ran the County Council, but with the Conservatives in charge, things are going backwards.
Only five years ago Hampshire closed Shepherd Spring School in Andover leaving other schools with a shortage of places and forced to use temporary class rooms. Tories on Test Valley Council recently ignored local concerns and voted to build houses on the school playing fields. Mums, dads and local campaigners are asking why the County Conservatives failed to see this crisis coming and why they are more concerned with selling land for housing than building schools. Andover Lib Dems are backing parents’ calls for long-term solutions for school places, not the quick fix backwards step of temporary classrooms!

On the Guildhall and Andover’s councillors

Readers may have noticed recently a flurry of letters in the Andover Advertiser from Andover’s town councillors. One from Cllr Lynn bemoans local apathy. Another from Cllr Pond re-opens the debate on the future of the Guildhall. Both were worthy of a response so I replied as follows

“Councillor Veronika Pond is quite right in her letter regarding the Guildhall. Andover’s Guildhall is the town’s parish hall and should be used by, and for the benefit of, Andover residents. The restaurant on the lower floor is successful and a welcome addition to the town. But it did not need to be located there. Andover residents are entitled to a firm commitment from their councillors that the Guildhall, and in particular the upper floor, will remain available to the town and its people. It can and should be a focus for the local community.

But it is not enough just to provide a focus. Much has been said, most recently by Councillor Lynn, about apathy among residents. If he and his colleagues are serious about residents’ views they must listen to them. Too often on important local matters – the Guildhall, bandstand, war memorial, planning, highways, the sale of school fields and allotments – local views are often felt to be ignored. Indifference of one side feeds apathy on the other.

The solution lies with the town’s councillors at all levels. Listen to, and act on the views of residents. Councillors are trustees of the town and its facilities now and for future. They must remember they are elected representatives of the people on the council, not representatives of the council to the people.”

I look forward to their and more importantly everyone else’s response.

Thornber still wastes our money

Many people will remember Hampshire County Council’s unnecessary and expensive “refurbishment” of their offices, complete with gold plated taps in their washrooms, at our expense. I am sorry to report that Tory county council leader Ken Thornber hasn’t learned.

Despite the public outcry and the need to cut their own spending rather than cutting our services they are at it again. I am indebted to colleagues across Hampshire who have highlighted the spending of £223,000 on a vanity TV channel watched by just 57 people.

The full story was published recently in the Daily Mail. I don’t think I need to add any more. You can read all about whats been dubbed Ken TV here.
Daily Mail and Andover Advertiser

PLANNING AND TOWN COUNCIL UPDATE

I returned from holiday to discover that despite overwhelming local opposition and the unanimous support of councillors on the borough’s Northern Area Planning Committee Test Valley’s Planning Control Committee has approved plans to build 50 new homes at Shepherds Spring School.

I am indebted to Cllr Phil North for his support in opposing this plan and putting local people and their views above narrow political expediency. What a pity the same cannot be said of his colleague Janet Whiteley who at the PCC voted for the application. This is not the first time Mrs Whiteley has put party politics above representing the local electorate. She declined to support residents opposing Tory plans to divert Smannell Road through the new Augusta Park housing development and once famously voted for a plan to convert a house on King Arthurs Way into substandard flats arguing there were no parking problems in the area. Mrs Whiteley hopes to be mayor next year.

Meanwhile the real representative of local people, town councillor Barbara Carpenter, is getting on with the job of looking after local interests and getting things done. The latest Roman Way Forum took place on 30 June and the next is provisionally booked for 15 September. Blocked drains have been cleared in Caesar Close and Mrs Carpenter is working with council officers to get them to install additional disabled parking bays, repair footpaths and cut back overgrown trees in the area.