Council meeting 29th April

The final meeting of the current council year was held in Romsey yesterday. Councillors unanimously applauded the excellent job done over the past year by the current mayor Brian Page. He has set a standard which future mayors will struggle to meet. Also present was a previous, and highly regarded, mayor Cllr Rod Bailey, now recovering from his recent illness. We all wish him a speedy recovery, we need councillors of his experience and knowledge.

 Council approved several items relevant to Alamein and Andover.

Proposals to transfer monitoring of Andover CCTV to an office in the New Forest were passed. Given the expected cost savings we had to do so but I am still concerned about who is monitoring what and whom. I intend to raise this matter at the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee so that we can debate in public the principles and effectiveness of these cameras.

Also approved were the Andover town access plan intended to improve public access to facilities in and around the town and the Test Valley Cycle Strategy intended to establish a cycle network around Andover and south the the rest of the borough. Both plans will mean improvements to footpaths, cycle ways and roads around Andover. But some are dependant on future funding or have no funding at present. I intend to ensure the programs are completed as soon as possible. I was especially pleased to see officers have taken note of Smannell parish councillor Nigel Gooding’s call of a cycle route between Enham and Smannell to allow a safe route for chidren to cycle to Smannell School.

I am pleased to report that I gained an important concession on the matter of a lorry park for Andover (see earlier story at http://lengates.mycouncillor.org.uk/2008/12/28/lorry-park-for-andover/). The cabinet proposal that no further action be taken has been modifed to one which says the council will monitor the need for and then facilitate the establishment of a commercial lorry park. In the meantime council officers will patrol and enforce existing lorry parking regulations. 

Finally council also approved the consultation on a town council for Andover (see previous story http://lengates.mycouncillor.org.uk/2009/04/26/consultation-on-andover-town-council/). Consultation documents will be delivered over the next month. I urge everyone to return them with a resounding yes for a town council and the parishing of Andover.

Consultation on Andover Town Council

Discussing a “Fair Deal for Andover” with Nick Clegg

Later this week Test Valley Borough Council will be considering proposals to consult residents on a town council for Andover. A survey will be delivered to all residents asking their views on whether Andover should, like other towns, have its own town council

The survey will include a summary of the arguments for and against the proposal and an estimate of the costs involved. Establishing a town or parish council for Andover could cost as little as £1.51 per household and allow local residents to decide how their money is spent. At present all Andover residents pay an Andover levy administered by Test Valley councillors many of whom have no knowledge of or interest in Andover. Increases in the Andover levy would only occur if approved by the town council and Andover residents.

Andover Lib Dems have always supported a town council for Andover but believe the final decision should be made by local residents – not the borough council or any other pressure group. As well as a town council residents will be asked to consider other options including the parishing of just parts of the town allowing those parts wanting local democracy to go ahead even if others don’t.

I urge all Alamein residents to vote yes for a town council and yes for the parishing of Alamein ward. Andover deserves a Fair Deal and the same democratic rights as the rest of Test Valley.

Enham butchers opens

Debbie and Gary Lemon of Enham Butchers

Today I attended the opening of Enham Alamein’s new butchers by Test Valley mayor Brian Page. The butchers counter in Enham Village Stores offers a full range of British meat poultry and game much of it sourced from local farmers. I can recommend the hand made sausages which were excellent.

The addition of a butcher’s counter adds to the services offered by a thriving village shop. Congratulations to Leslie and Tim on making a success of the shop and proving that village shops can prosper. And good luck to Gary and Debbie in the butchers which is open 8:30 – 4:00 Tuesday to Saturday.

Oval residents’ lounge saved (for now)

testway-housing.jpg

I am pleased to report that Testway Housing has made important concessions in their plans to reclassify The Oval from sheltered to general purpose housing.

The building needs extensive improvements to bring it up to standard and county officials had declared it unsuitable as sheltered accommodation. Testway wrote to residents explaining the proposed changes and residents called in me as, their councillor, to express their concerns

I contacted Testway requesting a review of the proposals and Testway in conjunction with Test Valley Housing department reviewed the plans. As a result residents will be consulted about refurbishment of their kitchens and heating systems, a local letting policy has been implemented to reflect residents’ concerns and the residents’ lounge will remain open for at least a year and no changes will take place with out consultation with residents.

Give us back our rights!!

The Liberal Democrats have published their Freedom Bill, detailing how the party plans to roll back the authoritarian laws passed by both Labour and Conservative governments which have undermined civil liberties.

Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords protest the restrictions on demonstrating outside Parliament during the passage of the Serious and Organised Crime Act.

The legislation is the first time a major political party has collated all of the laws which have undermined civil liberties into one Bill, so that they can be easily repealed. By axing expensive and ineffective measures that hinder and keep tabs on innocent people, the Bill will help switch efforts to catching the guilty instead.

The 20 measures contained in the draft legislation will:
– Abolish the veto in the Freedom of Information Act that allows ministers to keep information secret
– Scrap the expensive mandatory ID card scheme
– Remove all innocent people from the DNA database, except for those tried for a violent or sexual offence
– Stop councils and others snooping by restricting the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to serious and terrorist offences
– Regulate CCTV to protect privacy following a Royal Commission on the use of cameras

You can view the bill in detail, comment on the draft and sign up to back the campaign at http://freedom.libdems.org.uk

Tories reject Lib Dem budget

Test Valley Borough Council has now set its budget for 2009/2010 after a 2 ½ hour debate during which the Liberal Democrat opposition questioned many aspects of the proposals.

Test Valley’s council tax will rise by 4.5%, 23 vacant jobs have been deleted and a further 20 – 30 redundancies are expected. The Lib Dems argued that while the increase in council tax was inevitable it should be tempered by a freeze on increases in fees and charges, set to rise by 5%. Deferring increases in charges would cost the council £50,000. This could be more than met by savings in the cost of councillors and the mayoralty we argued. The mayor’s office currently costs taxpayers £126,000 a year. A further Lib Dem proposal to reduce councillor numbers to save an additional £500,000 per year from 2011 was also rejected.

I am disappointed that we lost the vote but feel we did win the arguments. It was heartening to hear that the economic portfolio holder is willing to work with us to look for future cost savings. This problem is not going to go away we will need to continue to look for economies throughout the council and that must include the cost of the councillors themselves.

Tories right for direction but woefully lacking in substance

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats in local government, Cllr Richard Kemp has welcomed the direction of the Tory proposals for local government, but has cited four major concerns. “This is a wholesale repudiation of the Thatcher and Major governments which stripped councils of their power and finance and made them into puppets of central government, but the plans lack substance in four areas

1.    They do nothing to correct the imbalance between central and local funding. Whilst central government supplies up to 80% of the money spent by local government they will continue to call the tune asserting national priorities over local ones. They have similarly chickened out of tackling the way we raise money locally by keeping in place the grossly unfair Council Tax whilst we would propose a fair local income tax

2.    They have learned nothing about local mayors. Some Mayors have been successful. And where people decide that they want a mayor they already have the right to elect one. But of the 12 elected mayoral systems in England two are in deep trouble with Stoke already voting to end their mayoral system. If the same proportion of councils generally were in trouble there would be aid teams outside 38 Town Halls today.

3.    They have learned nothing about regionalism. They are, of course, right to rail against the bureaucracies of unelected regional government. But to suggest that employment, housing, transport and planning matters stop at the boundary of each council is ludicrous. Councils must and do work together and should be empowered themselves to develop sub regional and regional frameworks.

4.    Proposals for elected commissioners for the Police are deeply scary. Most people believe that the head of the Police should be a serving and experienced police officer. Although the green paper does not define what an elected commissioner would do there would be no point in having such a position if that person were unable to radically change policing policy and operational policing activity.

Cllr Kemp added: In these proposals the Tory MPs are clearly not listening to their own councillors who would support many of these points especially the one about police commissioners. In particular they have shown that they know little about urban government with many major urban councils like Liverpool. Sheffield and Newcastle being entirely Tory Free Zones.”

I wonder whether the challenge of decentralisation and passing power back to the people will be taken up by Test Valley Conservatives who, up until now, have vehemently opposed the introduction of a town council for Andover.

In Touch? I don’t think so!

A local resident has passed me a copy of the latest Alamein conservatives “In Touch”. I was amused to see that , as usual, they are claiming credit for everything while showing the usual lack of knowledge of what’s really happening in the ward and what has happened in the past

Page one has a story about Smannell & Enham School and their “Twenty is Plenty” road signs. This is part of a campaign initiated by Smannell parish council and cost the school over £200. It was not as they would have you believe done by the Tory county council who have over £125 million in reserves. Pam Mutton Tory county council candidate welcomes the signs. What a pity she couldn’t be bothered campaigning for similar signs outside schools in her own Winton ward.

Page two has a story on Enham Alamein village design statement and a comment from Cllr North on the document. He unfortunately neglects to mention the design statement was initiated by LibDem councillor Josie Msonthi. But then neither he nor Cllr Janet Whiteley managed to make the cabinet meeting where the document was discussed and approved.

On page three Winton ward Councillor Pam Mutton talks of the Rights, Respects and Responsibility agenda in Andover schools. What a pity she didn’t pay attention at the council meeting where it was discussed. The initiative came from the schools and local students not the Tory county council.

On page four they invite you to drop-in surgeries run by and for Tory councillors and the local MP. These are held in Andover’s upper Guildhall. The councillors use this building free of charge while paying users of the lower Guildhall were evicted to make room for a pizza restaurant which has still to appear after the building has stood empty, at great cost to the taxpayers, for over a year.

Finally they invite you to join the Conservative party for only £25. Membership of the Liberal Democrats is just £10 and much better value for money.

No to bonuses at RBS

My thanks to a local resident who sent me details of an on-line petition onbjecting to Royal Bank of Scotland paying bonuses to its staff this year. The text of the petition is as follows

It’s reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which received £20 billion of taxpayers’ money, plans to pay out £1 billion of it in bonuses to bankers and traders.This from a bank that last year posted losses of £28 billion.We believe this is morally and economically outrageous and the bonuses should be stopped.

The taxpayer owns 68% of RBS so we are now ALL shareholders.

So as shareholders, we therefore call on the board of RBS to announce that their bankers and traders will receive NO bonus this year.

The petition can be found at www.ipetitions.com/petition/giveupthebonus/index.html

N.B. Once you sign the petition your name will appear on the petition list. You do not need to make a donation to iPetitions – just close your browser after signing.

The scandal of our wasted taxes

Wasted taxes

A shocking dossier from the Liberal Democrats has revealed just some of the ways our taxes are being wasted on extravagant and incompetent projects

Despite the hardship many local families and residents face, Labour found £130 million to refurbish the Ministry of Justice’s office, £29 million to build accommodation for asylum seekers which was never built, £7 million for chauffeur-driven cars for ministers in just one year – and £50,000 for a party to which only 20 guests were invited

A massive £13 billion has also been spent on an NHS records system which doesn’t work.

How our money is wasted

  • £13 billion on an NHS record system that is a complete failure
  • £130 million on refurbishing Ministry of Justice offices
  • £81 million on a Department of Transport economy drive that was supposed to save £57 million
  • £29 million on accommodation for asylum seekers that was never built
  • £265.8 million the amount the government spent on advertising, marketing and public relations in 2007/8, an increase of £197.2 million since 1997-98
  • £200 million wasted over the past five years on IT projects that were never completed
  •  million on chauffeur driven cars for ministers in one year
  • £28.78 million in rent for unoccupied houses for soldiers and their families
  • £330 million overspent by government departments on their premises
  • £4.2 million by the Government’s Qualifications & Curriculum Authority on hotel rooms in an 18 month period
  • £50,000 on a party to which only 20 guests were invited
  • £2,000 each on image and public speaking training for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham