Local Lib Dems select parliamentary candidate

Robert Cooper (left) welcomes Tom McCann (right) to NW Hampshire

North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce that experienced Liberal Democrat campaigner Tom McCann has been selected as their Parliamentary Candidate. Tom was elected by the party membership at the Andover Guildhall on the 30th January 2009.

Tom is 47 and has been married to Margot for 22 years, and has two daughters in sixth form education. Tom has been in the south east for 27 years, working within the construction industry. He has been a Town/District Councillor for over 14 years with a wide range of interests from being Finance Portfolio holder to planning matters.

Robert Cooper, Chair, North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats said : “Tom has a good track record for service to his community. I look forward to seeing his achievements in North West Hampshire’s Towns and Parishes.”

Tom McCann “I’m delighted to be the Liberal Democrat PPC for North West Hampshire. I look forward to representing the communities of North West Hampshire. I eagerly anticipate the upcoming European and County Elections.”

I look forward to working with Tom who I am sure will make and excellent PPC and MP for North West Hampshire.

TVBC Budget problems

Several residents have contacted me angry about the insensitive way Test Valley has announced possible job cuts. Last Tuesday leader of the council Ian Carr went on Andover Sound to announce the council was looking at redundancies and service cuts saying that there “was no hiding place in the borough council – for anybody.” The comments were repeated in Friday’s Andover Advertiser where he added “Every service and every person is being looked at because that’s how bad it is. People and services are at risk.”

While I applaud his frankness in admitting the borough’s finances are in deep trouble his decision to announce this on local radio before staff were informed is inappropriate. Council finances are in a serious position and this needs to be managed responsibly. TVBC needs the full support of its staff and all councillors to weather this crisis and that means being open with them.

The Liberal Democrat group is willing to work with the Tory administration to resolve this problem but we cannot sanction cuts unless there is no other alternative. I would also expect a full review of the council’s finances which for too long has been over dependant on investment income. Council tax has been kept artificially low for many years by reliance, against the advice of council officers, on this investment income. This has made Test Valley more susceptible to the fall in interest rates than other authorities. The administration must take responsibility for this and take appropriate action to protect Test Valley for the future.

Council applauds “Rights, Respect and Responsibility” Agenda

Rights respecting schools

Test Valley Borough Council has voted unanimously to support the Rights, Respect and Responsibility program currently being developed in Andover’s schools and to support the idea of making Andover a rights respecting town.The motion, proposed by Cllr Jan Lovell, was as follows
“TVBC  
– congratulates the Northern Test Valley Partnership for Education in bringing the inspired conference, “To a Rights Respecting Community”, to Andover in October 2008.
– thanks the Children’s Commissioner, Sir Albert Aynsley-Green for his keynote address to that conference and for his personal endorsement of the internationally groundbreaking initiative of cultural change being spearheaded by our local schools in Test Valley
– pledges support for our children and young people in their quest to imbed, Rights, Respect and Responsibilities (RRR) as a way of life
– recognises that an RRR ethos, based on the UNICEF Rights of the Child, can successfully deliver powerful, sustainable, beneficial outcomes and increased wellbeing for all communities.”

I was very pleased to second this motion. I can confirm the success of the project. I have seen it at first hand in Knights Enham Schooland have seen it transferred to Anton Junior School where I am a governor.

 This is a fantastic project and an example to all, both in schools and outside of them. When children are taught about their rights they become more respecting of the rights of all other children and more socially responsible. This is the most important factor; they also learn their resposibility to respect others’ rights in all relationships in the community. 

A perfect example of this is the reaction of Knights Enham pupils to the war in Iraq. While so many children and adults focused on the conflict, these children empathised with their counterparts in Iraqi schools and wondered what the effects of the war would be on them

But this is not just about schools this is about a community. It is about building a better, stronger community and it about the youth of Andover building that community. It is about introducing (or re-introducing) moral principles into our community

For years we have seen a deterioration of values encouraged sometimes by public figures, even governments. We have been told “greed is good”, “there is no such thing as society”, “look after no1”, “wage wars on terror and anything else you don’t like”. There is a better way and the children of Andover have embraced it. You have rights but you also have to respect the rights of others, and you have responsibilities. So simple but so difficult for many people to grasp. But the youth of Andover have grasped it

This is not an initiative from governments, or councils. This is coming from the schools themselves, the staff and the pupils. This is the future and they should be proud of themselves and we should be proud of them. I can do no more than repeat two comments made about the program –

Sir Al Ainsley-Green Children’s Commissioner: “What is happening in Andover is truly exceptional…… If you can make this work in this town then you will be a trailblazer for others to follow.”
And Ann Hughes (head teacher of Knights Enham School): “If this work is maintained then we can really make a difference to the next generation.”

I  congratulate Mrs Hughes and her staff and all the other staff in all the other schools in Andover. But most of all I congratulate the youth of Andover.

No additional showman’s site at Picket Piece

Local residents will be aware of the public concern over two adjacent showman’s sites at Picket Piece. Work has already started on the first site which has planning permission. An application for the second site was turned down by the Northern Area Planning Committee last month. The applicants for the second site were John Wall and Son who run the regular fairs at Smannell Road Open Space.

 Today I received an email from Mrs Bernice Wall, one of the applicants, details are as follows

“We have decided not to pursue the planning applcation for the Showmen’s Quarters we applied for , I believe that,in looking at the overall response, it would not be welcomed by the local community and therefore it would be unfair to carry on with an appeal on the decision.  We have declined the advice given to us on moral grounds , and hope by letting you know this side of Christmas it will lay the local residents concerns to rest. We truly had no idea that the feeling against  the application from the local residents was so strong. Our apologies if we caused anyone undue concern.  May we take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a Healthy 2009.”

While it is important that we find sites for show people it is equally important that these sites are acceptable to local residents. I applaud Mrs Wall’s public spirited decision not to pursue her application and thank her for the consideration she has shown to the local community.

Council’s increase in charges condemned

Test Valley’s Tory administration has been slammed by a leading Liberal Democrat councillor for overcharging the bereaved and youth groups with its proposed increase in charges for services.

In  a statement issued before the borough’s Overview and Scrutiny committee meeting Cllr Cooper said “A Cabinet decision to increase most of Test Valley Borough Council fees and charges by an inflation busting 5% – and other fees and charges by as much as 100% – was rubber stamped last Wednesday. The main increases impact especially on youth groups and the bereaved. The Cabinet members present were Cllrs Hatley, Busk, Giddings, Hawke and Nokes. Cllrs Carr and Boulton were absent.”

“Some of the key changes are outlined  in an email I have sent to Overview and Scrutiny Chairman, Cllr Drew, in an attempt to call-in the decision for further consideration. At present, call-in at Test Valley is quite difficult. Call-in either has to be agreed by the Chairman and vice-Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny who are members of the administration OR has to match a whole set of criteria.”

“The decision of the Cabinet is a resolution not a recommendation. So FIVE Councillors from the 48 total that makes up Test Valley Borough Council have made a decision that may markedly impact on the pockets of a large number of people at a time when it is quite clear there will be economic stress and anxiety through 2009-2010.”

The fee increase recommended by officers was 5% based on inflation on September 2008 but inflation is now estimated at 3% and forecast to drop to as low as 1.8%. Under these circumstances the proposed increase in  charges are unacceptable. Within the proposals are a number of increases well in excess of inflation such as 15% increases for cemetery and burial charges, and up to 80% for some youth sports facilities.

The committee agreed not to call in the decision but to refer it to the committee’s finance panel which I chair. We will meet before 14th January and review all of these charges to ensure local residents get value for money and that they are not overcharged for services.

Village design statement approved

Enham

The long awaited Enham Alamein village design statement was approved at yesterday’s Test Valley Borough Council cabinet meeting.

It doesn’t seem like four years since we first asked for approval for residents to carry out work to establish a village design statement. At the time there were no parish council or residents association but local residents spoke to me and my fellow councillor Josie Msonthi saying they were keen to carry out the work and to have the same influence over their environment as residents of other parishes. We got approval to start and organised meetings in the village and set the ball rolling.

The amount of public interest was incredible. I attended the early meetings to establish the groups working on the VDS (as I did with a similar one in Smannell). The excitement was infectious. For the first time residents of the village were being given the opportunity to have a say in what was happening around them and they responded positively and emphatically that they wanted to have that say. The residents took up the ball and ran with it. From that grew the residents association and eventually the parish council.

The results of that four years work on the VDS have now been approved. They show what can be achieved when local residents are given control over their affairs and the success of what they have achieved should be an object lesson for other communities. It should also be a lesson for us as borough councillors for our role should not be to administer the borough for, or despite of, the residents but to enable them to do it for themselves as we have done in Enham.

This is a well researched and universally approved document. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate all those who worked on it, in the village, from the parish council, from the planning department and from planning aid south who gave so much help in the beginning. They have done a brilliant job and I am pleased the cabinet endorsed the work and accepted the finished document in full.

The recommendations for adoption of the document as planning guidance go to full council in January.

New recycling centre for Andover

Robin Hughes at the new site

Andover’s new Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) located in Scott Close, on the Walworth Industrial Estate, will open to the public at 8:00am on Wednesday 3 December 2008. The existing Household Waste Recycling Centre at Shepherds Spring Lane will close permanently at 4:00pm on Tuesday 2 December 2008. Diversion signs will be in use to redirect users from the old HWRC to the new site once it is up and running. The new centre’s opening hours will remain the same as those of the existing facility.

County Councillor Robin Hughes said, “After several years of waiting, a bigger and better Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) for Andover will open in early December. I congratulate the contractors and the county officers for completing this new facility ahead of schedule. Local residents will no longer have to put up with cars parked nose to tail back from the site and on to New Street and beyond.”

 The new  £1.2million Household Waste Recycling Centre incorporates a split-level layout, providing an upper area dedicated entirely to customers. Twelve containers for recycling and disposal, plus increased space for other recycling amenities such as a sales area and bottle bank. There is a separate access for lorries to the lower area to carry out bin servicing. This removes the need to temporarily close the site to the public during bin changeovers, so queuing times will be significantly reduced.   Extra parking spaces have been provided to improve customer access and has been designed to prevent cars queuing on the road outside the entrance in busier periods.

Guildhall costs don’t add up

andover_guildhall.jpg
Andover’s Lib Dem councillors are continuing to question the running costs of the Guildhall and Rendezvous.

The borough’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee were told on 6 November that the net cost of running the Guildhall was £74,000 and that income had dropped from over £44,000 in 2006/2007 to just £25,000 in 2007/2008. Future revenues from letting the Upper Guildhall are expected to be only £16,000 but officers admitted this was difficult to predict. Income from the Rendezvous so far is a mere £4,500.

St. Mary’s councillor Mike McGarry raised this at the full council meeting quizzing cabinet members about the figures. He was told running costs were over £100,000 for the past year and that income to-date was just £12,600. No figures are available for the costs of splitting services in the building to isolate the soon to be let lower Guildhall. A small profit of about £5,000 could be expected once the lower Guildhall is let. It was denied that a further loss of income to the council is expected when market traders are moved from the cobbles in front of the Guildhall

I find it hard to believe the council cannot give us more accurate figures. When the letting of the lower Guildhall was first proposed we were told running costs were around £75,000 per year and that most of that was administration charges connected with letting the building. We were also told there would be a profit to subsidise the Rendezvous. Now we appear to be spending even more money on a building that has effectively been closed for a year and financing an under-used and unsuitable alternative facility in the Rendezvous. I will be seeking a full review of the costs of both buildings at the end of the financial year.

Action not words

Before         After

On Saturday I was contacted by a resident of The Oval, Cricketers Way who was very concerned about the heavy deposit of fallen leaves outside the flats. On investigating I found that there were leaves 1 – 2 inches deep. These were not only unsightly but also dangerous because they were wet and slippery. Several residents and visitors to the block commented on the need to clear the leaves as soon as possible.

 I contacted Test Valley’s Environmental Services and they arranged to inspect the problem and resolve it. The leaves were cleared and the whole area swept on Monday morning. My congratultions to all the staff in Environmental Services who responded promptly and effectively to sort this problem.

No Consultation on MDAs

east-anton-development.jpg

Tory cabinet member for housing, Sandra Hawke sees no need to consult local councillors or residents about the new housing developments in Andover.

At Thursday’s council meeting I asked whether local councillors would have an input into implementing the new developments. “This been discussed on a number of occasions with particular reference to integrating the new communities with existing communities and also ensuring the impact of the MDAs on existing communities is minimised”  I said. To this end it was agreed that local members would be consulted and involved in this management of the implementation of the MDAs. Work has started in but to date there has been no consultation with councillors in the wards affected (Alamein and St Mary’s). Why not? and when can I expect this consultation to start?” 

Mrs Hawke replied she saw no need to consult and asked what there was to consult about. I repeated the question emphasising the need to ensure the impact on existing communities is minimised. Mrs Hawke again refused to answer the question.

Work has started at East Anton and local residents are already seeing the disruption caused. In the current economic climate it may be many years before the MDAs are completed. I and my fellow Lib Dem councillors will continue to work to ensure that any works are carried out in such a way as to minimise the effect on local communities.