Flooding in Smannell

Today’s heavy rain saw more flooding in Smannell a problem which occurs everytime we get heavy rain. Together with local residents I have contacted the Hghways department asking for urgent action. The text of our exchanges is as follows.

“Thanks for your prompt response on this. I appreciate you will have had a number of issues today because of the torrential rain. Having driven from Andover to Bordon this morning I have seen several areas where flooding has occured but none as bad as that which occurs far too often in Smannell.

I must re-emphasise the point that this section of road does flood regularly and the flooding is always reported but to no avail. Furthermore although not intentionally widened the cariageway has nevertheless got wider over the years every time a repair or resurfacing work is carried out.

Anything that can be done to resolve the problem in the short term would be appreciated but a long term solution is needed as soon as possible.

Regards

Len Gates

“Thank you for that; I am assured action has been undertaken to relieve the immediate problem.

Flooding at this location is not something I’ve been aware of in the two years I’ve been here, but do understand it is a historical problem. Although, as I mentioned in an earlier response, I will discuss a long-term solution with my Highway Manager in a couple of weeks time (he is currently on leave), the reality is that any major scheme would not be cheap and would have to join the Capital Programme and compete with other proposals for available funding, something which I’m afraid, along with the likely timescale, is out of my hands, although I will indeed stress the degree of the problem, given the information from you and others.

Hampshire Highways”

There is willingnees to deal with this but also a need for the local county councillor to champion this cause to get something done. I look forwasrd to her doing so.

Roman Way Forum (again)

Last Saturday’s meeting was another success. Residents have heard how anti-social behaviour in the area has reduced in the last year. PC Simon Merritt and PCSO Becca Williams answered questions from the public and dealt with a number of issues raised. They stressed the need for residents to continue to report all incidents so that they can be followed up.

The meeting then discussed speeding and other traffic problems. Town councillor Kevin Hughes will follow up the problems raised with the highways authorities. Residents also asked questions about traffic management in the area and agreed to add this to the agenda of the next meeting. A number of other matters were raised regarding overgrown trees, uneven footpaths and dog bins which will be followed up by town councillors.

Future meetings of the Forum have been guaranteed thanks to support from the Alamein Community Association. The Association will fund and publicise all future meetings. The Association is also funding the planning application to erect the new community notice board on Roman Way. Forum chair Cllr Barbara Carpenter had been invited to become a trustee of the Association to represent Roman Way residents.

For those new to the Forum it is a community meeting chaired by town councillor Barbara Carpenter. Meetings are held bi-monthly in Smannell Road Church centre. I originally organised the meetings with the police in response to requests from local residents. We continue to support and attend all meetings of the Forum. From July 2011 the Forum will be fully funded by the Alamein Community Association. Similar initiatives are planned for other parts of Alamein.
The July meeting took place on 30th July. The next meeting will be on Saturday 17th September at 3:00pm.

Roman Way Forum

The next Roman Way Forum will be on Saturday 30th July from 3:00 – 5:00pm in the Church centre Smannell Road.

The meeting will be attended by an Alamein Town Councillor, representatives of Alamein Community Association and local police.If you have any concerns about vandalism, bad behaviour, housing matters or local roads and footpaths, please come along and make your voice heard. I will be chairing the meeting. I look forward to seeing you.

Crew Week comes to King Arthurs Way

The next CREW (Community Respect and Environment Week) will take place in and around King Arthur’s Way and Anton Lakes Local Nature Reserve from Monday 1 August to Friday 5 August. Test Valley Borough Council, Hampshire Police, Testway Housing and a range of other agencies will be working in partnership with the community to reduce anti-social behaviour and crime and to improve and enhance the local environment.
Crew week is suppoerted by Alamein Community Association. There will be a wide variety of activities taking place to help make the neighbourhood sparkle and to encourage community cohesion. On Thursday 4 August there will be a CREW Family Fun Day at King Arthur’s Hall. The Fun Day will start at 11am.

A ful list of activities is attached below.

CREW Timetable

Election results

Dear residents

 Many of you may already have heard the results of last Thursday’s borough elections. For those who have not full details are on the council website at http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/pdf/Declaration%20of%20Alamein.pdf

 As a result I cease to be your borough councillor. It has been an honour and a privilege to represent you over the past eight years. During that time we have achieved many great improvements to the area and I have enjoyed working with all of you to make Alamein, your community, a better place. Without your support and help many of these achievements would not have been realised. I shall miss working with, and for, all of you.

 I have also made many very good friends. I hope these friendships will continue and I look forward to maintaining the links we have built over the years.  

Many of you have already contacted me expressing you disappointment at the result. Unfortunately loosing elections is an occupational hazard of politics and we must move on from that. Thank you everyone who turned out to vote for me and thank you to all of you who were so positive in your support over the election campaign.

 Best wishes

 Len Gates

Test Valley Borough Council elections

Elections take place on 5th May for Test Valley Borough Council.

All 48 seats are up for re-election and Test Valley Liberal Democrats have candidates for nearly all the seats including every seat in the Andover area.

Our candidates in the area are

Alamein: Len Gates, Kevin Hughes, Robin Hughes

Anna: Ben Harrington-Elsmore

Charlton: Mike McGarry

Harewood: Richard Rowles

Harroway: Ryan Hughes, Josie Msonthi, Andrew Whiteley

Millway: Barbara Carpenter, Ross Fifield, Margaret Henstock

St Mary’s: Katherine Bird, Nigel Long, Vince McGarry

Winton: Dave Campbell, Sid Dajani, Peter Wilson

We believe the top priority of councillors is to look after the best interests of residents. We are not in coalition with the ruling Conservatives and offer a real alternative to the current administration. Test Valley Borough Council must not become an expensive bureaucracy out of touch with the people it serves. If elected we will cut unnecessary costs, transfer savings to front line services and devolve decision making back to local people. We have already identified four key areas where we can implement this programme by

  • Reversing the unacceptable councillors’ pay rise and cutting the costs of councillors and council meetings by restructuring committees and reducing overheads.
  • Cutting operational costs by sharing services with other district councils and by devolving responsibility to town and parish councils. We will also scrap the unfair Andover levy – a poll tax on the people of Andover.
  • Using the savings made above to improve the environment by introducing weekly summer month household waste collections and regular doorstep glass recycling collections.
  • Bringing planning back under local control by giving residents a real say in local development and by opposing any more unnecessary large scale developments in the area.

We look forward to increasing the number of seats we currently hold on the council and putting the above programme into practice.

Lottery Funding for Alamein Community Association

Alamein Community Assocoation working in partnership with the Turnaround project are in the process of completing a “Reaching Communities” lottery application for fundimg of half a million pounds over 5 years to be spent in Alamein ward.

We would like your help to give us an idea of what is missing in the area, what is needed and to help the funding application.

All completed quationaires will be put int a draw to win a family ticket to Milestones Museum (2 adults, 2 children). Deadline for questionaires is 5th April 2011.

Please help us to finalise this application by completing the questionaire via the following links or by contacting me for a hard copy of the questionaire.

Residents and community groups consultation – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7W2C5ZF

Young people consultation – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5LP39PL

Smannell Broadband (again)

Tory council candidates desperate for votes have started misleading voters about their commitment to local residents and the community.

 In an inaccurate leaflet distributed recently they seek to claim credit for a three year project to bring broadband to Little London and Smannell. The project team led by local resident Margaret Henstock and I worked with council officers from Test Valley and Hampshire County Councils. At no time did the other two borough councillors have any input into the project or indeed show any interest in it. The broadband team were not consulted about the Tory leaflet or advised of its content.

  Over the last three years Margaret, I and the team negotiated with broadband suppliers and lobbied directly at county hall for funding for the project. This was a community based project with full support of parishioners and the parish council. It was also non political. To seek to make political capital out of it now just shows how desperate they are for votes. The project is nearing completion but contracts are not yet signed their irresponsible self publicity could well threaten completion. Margaret has emailed the Tories “To have hi-jacked this project and used it for publicity purposes is despicable.” They have not replied.

 We are, of course, used to Tory duplicity and spin. Last year they claimed credit for a new community notice board in Roman Way despite having no input into or interest in the residents group behind it.  They also failed to support the local campaign to stop the diversion of Smannell Road through Augusta Park. Not one of them bothered to attend the public enquiry and support residents and the parish council in opposing the plan. The Tory county councillor, in fact, voted for the scheme and others privately admitted they were in favour of the diversion.

No charges for street parties

Test Valley’ Borough Council’s cabinet is being recommended to accept Lib Dem proposals to drop charges for street parties to celebrate the royal wedding.

The council originally intended to charge a £25 administration fee for granting permission to residents to close roads for street parties for the wedding on April 29th but Lib Dem borough councillors objected to this. St Mary’s councillor Mike McGarry tabled a motion to last month’s council meeting calling for the charges to be dropped. “The extra bank holiday gives residents an opportunity to forget about the economic crisis and join in a national celebration. The council can and should be encouraging this. What better way than to pay the administration costs rather than expect residents to do so” he said.

The proposals, which I seconded, were referred to cabinet member, Martin Hatley, for further consideration. Cllr Hatley has now agreed to our plan and is recommending dropping the charges to the full cabinet meeting on March 16th. “I am optimistic we will be able to waive this fee completely for both the Royal Wedding and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations next year.”

I welcome the change of heart. The original idea to charge was contrary to the spirit of the celebrations and an example of bureaucratic penny pinching. Many other authorities, including neighbouring Wiltshire, have already announced they will be waiving charges. I hope Test Valley’s cabinet now follow their lead.

The original motion to TVBC full council on 25th February was referred to cabinet without debate. The full text is as follows

“Council notes that there will be an additional Bank Holiday this year to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29th in Westminster Abbey.
Council also notes the substantial local interest in holding street parties and similar events on that day. However during these times of austerity the celebrations for this event will be difficult to afford for many people.
Council therefore resolves to waive the normal £25 charge for any applications for road closures for the purpose of street parties in celebration of the Royal Wedding.”

Application forms for permission to hold street parties can be obtained from Test Valley’s offices in Andover or Romsey.

Tories new Poll Tax

Householders now have to pay a new flat fee for planning advice.

As well as fees for planning applications, Test Valley Borough Council has also introduced charges for pre-application planning advice. This is despite the unanimous decision of the Borough’s Scrutiny Committee that pre-planning advice for householders should remain free of charge.

“Planning officers admitted that pre-planning advice was free to encourage householders to make good quality planning applications”, says Scrutiny Committee member Cllr Mark Cooper. “Charging for the service will discourage its use, and will cost everyone extra time and money sorting out poor quality or inappropriate planning applications”.

The Borough has brought in a sliding scale of charges for commercial and larger planning applications. But householders will be charged a flat fee of £40, or £48 with VAT, whatever the size and nature of their planning application.

“I’ve no problem with the Borough charging for pre-application advice where the developer is making a profit”, says Cllr Cooper, ” But householders are applying for home improvements. There is no profit motive. The fee is the same whether the householder is applying for a porch extension or a large two-storey side extension. This crude fixed fee is like a planning poll tax and patently penalises modest home improvements as against major ones”.

Planning portfolio holder, Cllr Martin Hatley, made one concession and agreed that the pre-planning fees issue and the householder charge would be reviewed in six months to see if there was any negative impact on the planning system.