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

smannell-road-excavations.jpg

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.

Damaged Street Signs – latest

Swallowfields sign

In July I reported a damaged street name sign in Swallowfields to discover that the lead time for repairs is six weeks and that because of staff shortages work was often taking even longer. I raised this with the Cabinet member responsible at yesterday’s council meeting and got the following response.

 A six week lead time is typical because signs are ordered in bulk on a six week cycle. Approximately 35 signs are repaired and 80 replaced every year at a cost of £3000 pa (£85 per sign) for repairs and £10,000 pa (£125 per sign) for replacement.

Council officers are required to survey damaged signs before further damage is done and pro-actively repair signs where possible. Doing so saves the council £40 a time and prevents the area looking run down. Because of staff shortages this service has not been provided for several months. Now that extra staff have been recruited it is hoped the service will return to normal once the backlog of work is cleared.

For the future I would advise residents to report all damaged signs as soon as possible so that repairs can be undertaken before the signs  are damaged beyond repair.

Damage should be reported to Test Valley Borough Council on 01264 368000 or direct to me.

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.

Daily Mail condemns Tory waste of taxpayers money

Zip hydrotap

The Daily Mail has recently identified Hampshire as one of the most wasteful local authorities. Among some of the more wasteful items are £12,000 on new taps and £1.25 million on new furniture. The following article recently appeared in the Daily Mail (July 4th 2008); highlighting some of the ways that Hampshire County Council are spending your money.

Council in hot water over £12,000 taps:

 A council criticised for spending thousands of pounds on bottled water has brought six designer taps costing £2,000 each. Hampshire County Council bought the Zip Hydrotaps as part of a £40million taxpayer-funded renovation of its HQ in Winchester. Some £1.25million was spent on furniture alone, including designer desks and chairs. Earlier this year residents were furious after it was revealed that the council was spending £141,000 every year on bottled water for staff. Hampshire County Council claimed it got a discount when ordering the taps, which are said to ‘dispense freshly filtered, chilled and boiling water with an impressive flow rate’. But Lib Dem opposition leader Adrian Collett yesterday described the purchase as ‘extraordinarily extravagant’. Meanwhile the Tory run council continues to cut bus services, close care homes and schools, and reduce investment in libraries, roads and other facilities.

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

Say No to Chuggers

I was recently contacted by a local resident who reported that on 26th August the King Arthur’s area was invaded by a high pressure sales team from a deaf charity.  Their reflective jackets had ASDC on them and basically their patter was very similar to Time Share, Double Glazing and the early days of the Power companies.  It consisted of trying to get access to each person’s home, pulling out out a form and getting them to commit to a direct debit.

This, of course, is no way for a reputable charity to behave and I referred the matter to the council’s licensing manager. The reply was less than encouraging.

Unfortunately collection of money for charitable purposes by direct debit falls completely outside of current charity collection law and there is nothing that we can do to prevent this type of activity. It is quite common and used by many of the established charities. Persons undertaking this type of work have earned the rather unkind nickname of chugger, meaning charity mugger. However I think this does indicate the level of unease over this type of activity and it is to be hoped that the new Charities Act will address this and make direct debit collections licensable. Unfortunately at the present time we do not know when the new Act will come into force.

Until the new act does come into force I would recommend all residents to ignore these high pressure techniques, never allow people into your homes if you are suspicious of them and if in doubt – contact the police.

If you really want to support a charity, do it through their website, not a chugger.

A community centre for Roman Way?

Residents have no doubt seen Friday’s Andover Advertiser. I am grateful to the paper for giving me the opportunity to talk about some of the plans your local Liberal Democrats have for improving Andover. I would welcome comments from residents on these or any other Lib Dem proposals for Andover

 I must, however, correct one small error in the reports. When discussing the need for improved community facilities I highlighted the fact that there is no community centre on Roman Way not River Way as reported. I am currently discussing this with a number of local residents and interested parties and would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in getting involved in this project.

River Way, of course has the Phoenix centre and I see no reason why a similar centre couldn’t work on Roman Way if there was sufficient local demand.

Beware this Scam

I have received the following from Hampshire Trading Standards.

Congratulations Mrs X, you are the guaranteed winner of a cheque for £10,000

Although not scams in the normal sense of the word, these mailings have caused problems for several people.  They are the type of promotions you will find enclosed with  mini catalogues, usually  unsolicited. They come in many formats with each envelope stating that ‘important documents’ are enclosed. This is a ‘Special Priority Letter’, ‘The super cheque you have already won’ and ‘your prompt reply is essential’ clearly written on the front.  All gimmicks to wet your appetite.

The whole purpose of the mailings is to encourage you to place and order with the company,  but all too often the way they are written leads you to believe  you have won thousands of pounds, and in order to get your ‘winnings’ have to place an order.  Most people don’t want the goods at all but feel that they can’t miss the opportunity of winning this ‘guaranteed’ reward

The small print – often called Rules of Game, Terms, etc, will tell you the truth.  You will know them when you find them –  either on the inside of the envelope you throw away, or in a single paragraph of pale grey block capitals on the back of an insignificant slip of paper, or tucked away under a fold of paper well away from the main marketing ‘puff’.    Quite off-putting, but puts the company in a legally safe position. 

Usually the title of the draw will be along the lines of  ‘Winner of a £10,000 cheque” so that every time they use it, they are not telling saying you are a winner, they are quoting the name of the game.   Yes, you will win a cheque, as will everyone else who sends back their form, but it will only be for £1 – £1.50 and can only be used on their products – and you don’t have to place an order, you can enter the draw separately

These sales gimmicks are used very successfully  by many companies, these are often foreign companies often using a British P.O. box

Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) receives hundreds of complaints about this type of advertising, and  are looking into taking action against several companies.

My advice – ignore the offers and report them to Trading Standards.

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.