Thoughts on the financial crisis

It strikes me that the current financial crisis is a direct result of lax controls over financial institutions over a number of years. The orgy of asset stripping of public and mutually owned businesses in the 1990s, sold to us all as privatisation for the common good turned out to be nothing of the sort. It has now left this country’s economy in a weaker situation than otherwise it would have been.

Successive governments have encouraged and sometimes forced through deregulation for the sake of it to satisfy the demands of bankers and others who have proved unfit to be trusted. The leader of the Scottish Nationalists has rightly called them a band of spivs and speculators.

While the US government seems to have grasped the seriousness of the situation and is taking appropriate action in the UK there appears to be an air of indifference to the whole thing. Strange until you realise the two major political parties are responsible for and still committed to the system which is on the brink of collapse.

More worrying is the close links between some of them and the hedge fund managers responsible for the current run on our banks. As reported in today’s Observer a small group of city financiers who have made fortunes from falling stock market prices are paying at least £50,000 a year to the Conservative party. These donations entitle them to buy privileged access to Tory leader David Cameron

Commenting on the donations Lord Oakeshott, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman said “We see the same hedge fund wolf packs that brought HBOS to its knees are bankrolling the Tory party. No wonder David Cameron and George Osborne wouldn’t condemn short selling or the hedge funds’ disgraceful behaviour.”

Full details of the Tory party’s link to the hedge funds are to be revealed a Dispatches program to be broadcast by Channel 4 tomorrow.

New Andover Web site

Andover Liberal Democrats have this weelk launched a new website for the town. This will contain news items of interest to residents across Andover and updates on the work carried out by our county councillors and candidates for county council elections next year.

The link to the new website is http://andoverlibdems.blogspot.com/ 

The three candidates selected to represent Andover are

Andover North: County Councillor Robin Hughes

Andover South: Vince McGarry

Andover West: Josie Msonthi

Dismay over pledge to “keep jobs in Scotland”

lloyds-tsb.jpg

The Chair of North West Hants Lib Dems has today written to Lloyds TSB CEO Eric Daniels expressing the party’s concerns over the deal that sees Lloyds TSB purchase HBOS.

In a highly unusual move for a bank merger, the company insisted it would retain its Scottish HQ and that its “management focus is to keep jobs in Scotland”. This statement is considered by many commentators to mean that a political deal has been done by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling to limit the job losses in Scottish banking at the expense of the English operations of Lloyds TSB/HBOS. This announcement coincides with the Glenrothes by election which happens to be the neighbouring constituency to Gordon Brown.

Lib Dem Constituency Chairman Rob Cooper speaking today said “our fear is that Lloyds TSB jobs in Andover will be at risk to save the skin of Gordon Brown, this is simply unacceptable. I will also be copying in Lib Dem Economic spokesman Vince Cable to ensure that our concerns for Andover Lloyds TSB staff and ancillary businesses are raised at the highest level.”

Smannell Road Excavations update

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Residents will by now know that the funfair planned for this weekend has been cancelled again. The main reason for the cancellation was the weather making the site too water logged for the fair to open. However, only a small fair could have moved on to the site because of ongoing works by Southern Water. This work also contributed to the condition of the grounds. It is hoped that the fair can be re-scheduled for October.

I raised local concerns about Southern Water’s access to the Smannell Road open space at Wednesday’s council meeting. They have the power under government legislation to go on to the land and lay pipes but should advise Test Valley before doing so. On this occasion they did not do so. The current work is to rectify problems with the previous work carried out in April.

Once completed all work must be checked by Test Valley to ensure the land has been re-instated to the previous standard. The previous work was not completed to an acceptable standard and this has been communicated to Southern Water. Council officers will now check the site weekly to ensure the work is done properly. The council will also be seeking compensation for officer time related to the work, costs to rectify substandard work and any potential loss of income for the funfair.

I have also been given assurances that the East Anton developers and their sub-contractors will not access the Smannell Road open space without full consultation with the council and your local councillors to ensure disruption and inconvenience to local residents is minimised.

Tories reject more spending on buses

Hampshire Bus

Test Valley Tory councillors have rejected calls for increased spending on public transport. At this week’s borough council meeting councilors debated petrol prices. Lib Dem councillors proposed the following amendment to a Tory motion –

 “Test Valley Borough Council will communicate its concerns (on fuel prices)to the government and request it take appropriate action to control fluctuations in fuel prices whilst encouraging investment in alternative environmentally friendly fuels and investing in adequate public transport for those areas currently over dependant on private cars for transport.”

In proposing this I reminded councillors of their need, as signatories to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change to promote more environmentally friendly policies and reduce local dependence on private cars. However they rejected the motion preferring to send a demand to the Labour government that it introduce a “fuel stabiliser” to subsidise petrol prices from tax revenues. This move would reward the owners of gas guzzlers while ignoring the needs of the 20% of local people with no access to private transport.

Careers evening at King Arthur’s Hall

A careers evening being held at King Arthur’s Hall on 11th September. It is for those aged 16-24 years, for school leavers, or those not in education or employment training.

Young people between the ages of 16 and 19 can claim £30 a week Education Maintenance Allowance while on the Andover CHOICES (e2e) program. If you are interested in joining contact Wendy Holmes on 01264 360137 or email [email protected].

 If you need information about jobs, apprenticeships or training go to the careers evening at Blenheim Youth Club, King Arthur’s Hall on 11th September between 6pm and 8pm.

For further details see the attached pdf file.

king-arthurs1.pdf

Council to debate fluoridation

Tap water

Cllr Alan Dowden has tabled a motion for the next council meeting opposing fluoridation of the borough ‘s water supply. Alan wants the council to make its position absolutely clear before any attempt is made to introduce the chemical into local water supplies.  Hampshire Primary Care Trust is currently planning to add fluoride to the water in Southampton, Eastleigh and Portsmouth and says it has no plans at present to extend the scheme to Test Valley. However Alan believes it essential that Test Valley makes it position clear now. His motion highlights the possible side effects of such an action and concludes “that water supplies at this moment in time should not be fluoridated.”

I have seconded his motion and fully support his stance on unacceptable mass medication based on suspect science. I look forward to the debate and hope all councillors (Lib Dem and Tory) will back this motion. The meeting is on 10 September in Romsey.

In a further development the council’s overview and scrutiny committee decided this week to call the PCT to a future meeting to explain its policy.

East Anton MDA latest

The decision on the outline planning application for land at East Anton was issued today (Wednesday 13 August). The development includes 2,500 dwellings, an area for employment purposes, schools, local centres, playing fields, parkland, public open space, sports hall, community centre, community worker, structural landscaping and associated infrastructure.

Financial contributions from the developers towards off site infrastructure provision, including the highways improvements, exceed £13 million and forty percent of the dwellings will be affordable.

This is probably the largest application for development the Borough has ever dealt with. Discussions with local councillors, including me and county councillor Robin Hughes, and the developers/landowners started in the late 1990s and the process has involved officers from both the County and Borough Councils.

This is just the first stage of permission and development. A further reserved matters application will be submitted before the end of this week as the developers, Taylor Wimpey, hope to make a start on site in November this year.

Although the development is now to go ahead despite strong local opposition there is still opportunity to ensure local people have an input in how the development proceeds, what traffic controls are in place and what planning gain there is for exisiting communities.

I am currently working with officers to ensure the promised landscaping between the new development and Woodhouse is planted this year rather than waiting for a further year before any planting takes place.

Both Robin and I will continue to monitor progress and negotiate for the best possible deals for both new and exisiting residients.

More houses for Andover?

Andover Liberal Democrats have expressed concern over the government’s revised housing numbers for Andover. Government planning inspectors are seeking a further allocation of 1100 houses in the Andover area. I wonder whether the inspectors were aware of the pressure put on the town by such a large increase in numbers or they have any understanding of the town and its needs.

Andover has already seen an allocation of 3700 homes at East Anton and Picket Twenty. Further plans for building at Picket Piece and on other sites will bring the number of new homes in Alamein and St Mary’s wards to over 5000. If an additional 1100 are now added this would mean a 20% increase in the size of the town over the next 10 to 20 years. This cannot be achieved without a corresponding improvement in the town’s infrastructure – the roads bus and train services, the water and sewage systems, shops, leisure facilities, telephone services and schools. This investment must be made before or during the new building and cannot be funded only by local taxpayers or by the developers.

Liberal Democrat councillors will be seeking talks on improving Andover’s infrastructure before further building takes place and strongly opposing over-development in any one part of the town.

Alamein e-Focus

Your local Liberal Democrat Focus group believe in keeping you informed about what is happening in your area but even more so consulting you on what issues you think are important.

In the past we have consulted you through Focus newsletters and surveys and door to door visits. We are very conscious of the need to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce the amount of paper we push through your letter boxes so we are now investigating the use of email and web blogs to keep in touch with you.
In addition to this and other blogs we have, for the last three months,  also been distributing an e-Focus to Alamein ward residents. If you would like to receive this e-Focus please contact me on [email protected] and we will add you to the email list. Your email address will not be passed on to any third party and will be removed from our list immediately if you wish to unsubscribe.