Blog closed

This blog is now closed for further details of Andover Liberal Democrats please go to our new blogs for the five Andover wards

Alamein http://www.alameinlibdems.blogspot.com/
Harroway http://www.harrowwaylibdems.blogspot.com/
Millway http://www.millwaylibdems.blogspot.com/
St Mary's http://www.stmaryslibdems.blogspot.com/
Winton http://www.wintonlibdems.blogspot.com/

or to the constituency website at http://www.nwhampshire.libdems.org.uk/

Local Tories disown national politicians (and policies)

I have been interested to read over the past week how a major rift is developing between Tories in Test Valley and their national counterparts.

David Cameron and company appear increasingly out of touch with what is happening locally and what their local activists think.

First we had the news last week that Romsey Tories feared a visit from a shadow cabinet member would have a "negative effect" on their election campaigning. Full details are reported on the BBC news website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8064217.stm

Then we hear Andover county councillor David Kirk has rubbished Shadow Education secretary Michael Gove and his proposals for changing the status of local schools. Full details can be found on the Guardian website at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/may/27/local-government-david-cameron

Finally I note Tory party chairman Eric Pickles has spoken out on Andover Sound about the building of thousands of new homes in Andover saying it is unrealistic and unsustainable. Does he not know the Tory controlled borough council decided to put all the houses east of Andover and are proud of the new developments? It was the local Lib Dem councillors who argued all along that the MDAs were unsustainable and housing should be spread more evenly across the borough. But Mr Pickles’ colleagues at Beech Hurst disagreed and have recently admitted they even over-allocated homes to curry favour with the government.

Guildhall signs approved

At Thursday's meeting of Test Valley’s Northern Area Planning meeting approval was given for advertising signs on the Guildhall. The application was from Prezzo for signs on the windows and plaques on each door announcing their presence in the building. I am pleased to report that a further application for illuminated lecterns with menus outside the building was withdrawn.
Many residents have objrcted to the signs and I agree with them. The proposal is that every window (24 in all) will have Prezzo emblazoned across it in addition to three further plaques mounted on the walls. This I believe is completely over the top and will spoil the building the centre of our town and an important tourist attraction. There can be no-one in North West Hampshire that doen’t know Prezzo are moving into the Guildhall. We do not need 24 reminders across every available window.
I was disappointed to hear some members of the committee arguing that the approval must be given so as to speed up the conversion of the building into a restaurant and that any one opposing the application was trying to block the changeover. Council officers made it quite clear that the change of use and the alterations to the building were separate matters and that one does not automatically follow the other.
My ammendment, backed by St Mary’s ward councillor Mike McGarry, to restrict signs to the doors only was defeated by eighteen votes to two. A sad day for the Guildhall and for Andover

Tory Councillors first class travel rip off

I have been challenged by a Tory supporter to put up or shut up on this story and provide the evidence, his view was that I had made this up - whilst the rest of the Country is struggling Tory councillors are swanning around first class.

I can happily supply anyone who wants to see the real deal a copy.

So I am delighted to provide the freedom of information request letter and evidence that Councillor Kirk did indeed swan it up in First Class on us the Hampshire Council tax payers expense.

This article was first posted on our web blog on 16th April 2009.

It is interesting to read David Cameron in last Sunday's Times castigating his own MPs on "feathering their own nests" when in Hampshire Tory County Councillors are sitting "comfy cosy" in first class carriages whilst the rest of us are struggling.

Perhaps David Cameron should "have a word" with his local Tories who are certainly wasting tax payers money! Scratch the surface and it is the same old Tories underneath. Cameron said this weekend: “All week I’ve been receiving letters from people saying the same thing: how can MPs claim they’re helping people through the recession when so many of them seem to be feathering their own nests? “They are right to be angry. We need to sort this out immediately. But restoring trust in politics goes beyond expenses and allowances. At a time when families and businesses are being forced to cut back, politicians should be asking how they can help bring down the cost of politics across the board - it is taxpayers’ money after all.”

Andover Liberal Democrats have used the Freedom of Information Act to expose how leading Hampshire Tory County Councillors are travelling First Class to London at Council Tax payers expense.

Hampshire Tories already under fire for spending over £4.5 million on spin and publicity which includes branded mints and pens, and millions on refurbishment of County Hall were caught out wasting tax payers money when Andover South Councillor Kirk was spotted travelling to London on the 23rd Jan 2009.

Councillor Kirk travelling on the 1004 from Andover to London was spotted sitting in the first class carriage on a off peak train not busying himself with the affairs of his Education portfolio but mulling over Andrew Marr’s political history of Britain. The off peak standard class return on what was a quiet train that day would have cost the residents of Hampshire £26.30 rather than the whooping “fat cat” price of £93.20.

An angry fellow traveller identified Councillor Kirk as he was wearing his County Council identity badge and asked Andover Lib Dems to investigate. A freedom of information act request followed and Hampshire County Council admitted that they had provided Councillor Kirk the warrant to buy the first class ticket and for good measure threw in a expenses claim for 4 miles mileage and a £12.50 taxi fare.

Andover South Lib Dem candidate Vince McGarry said “This is typical of the waste we are seeing at County Hall, Councillor Kirk could have travelled standard class that day but choose to ride in first class which cost the hard up Council Tax payers of Hampshire an additional £66. He had the choice. It is a scandal of the highest order when you consider the Tories are cutting jobs at Test Valley and spending £4.5 million on spin, including branded mints and pens, £40 million on doing up their HQ. Tory councillors should be leading from the front and setting an example rather than wasting Council Tax payers cash”

For more information please contact Vince McGarry on 07517 212000

Tories Planning Disaster

'Unsound' was the Government Planning Inspector, Ms Jill Kingaby's decision on Test Valley Borough Council's Core Strategy at a public meeting in Andover on Friday 1st May. The Core Strategy is the planning blueprint for the future of Test Valley, Andover and Romsey up to 2026.

"Being found 'unsound' means that the Core Strategy is therefore withdrawn and the Enquiry in Public (EiP) scheduled for this summer is cancelled. The Core Strategy will have to be re-drafted to meet the withering criticisms of its layout, content, faulty research and lack of vision expressed by the Planning Inspectorate. Councillors and members of the public listened in silence as Ms Kingaby detailed major faults in the council’s planning strategy and condemned the council’s failure to follow government guidelines.

The document gave a sketchy collection of facts about the borough but failed to provide a vision for the future which responded to local needs and was locally distinctive. “The policies were unlikely to meet the needs of Andover” she said. The council was also criticised for failure to work with service providers to improve local infrastructure.

There was a failure to spell out how much development would take place, where, when and by what means. The council placed too much reliance on future plans rather than giving direction itself. The document was too long; it merely replicated government policy and previous TVBC documents and contained unnecessary extra policies. Housing provision was not done according to government guidelines, was muddled and too dependant on windfall sites. Finally the Government Office of the South East (GOSE) had identified a number of inconsistencies in the policy and their advice was ignored.

The failures had all been highlighted in advice by GOSE and raised at council meetings earlier this year by Lib Dem councillor Mark Cooper. The Tory leadership ignored this and went ahead and published a Local Development Strategy a month after GOSE had instructed Test Valley to redraft it.

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Cooper said “Such incompetence is breathtaking and there is going to be a very high financial cost to meet. I warned them, again and again, that the Core Strategy was unsound. Test Valley's response was a bemused silence. The Planning Portfolio holder, Cllr Hatley, who has presided over this mess, should resign forthwith.”

Lib Dem leader Cllr Len Gates added “I am appalled at the incompetence and arrogance which has been shown by the council leadership. They deliberately ignored advice, they misled councillors and they thought they knew better than the government inspectors. As a result the council has been made to look incompetent and the council tax payers have been left with a bill which could run into several hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

Public Consultation on Andover Town Council

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.

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

Andover Lib Dems support Nick Cleggs campaign to allow Gurkhas to remain in the UK

There are times in your life when you have to use the word "disgraceful" and every supporter of Gordon Brown and the Labour Party should hang their heads in shame after yesterday cowardly decision to discriminate against ex Gurkhas,

The Gurkhas who fought alongside my grandfather and father, (a life long labour supporter) in the First and Second World Wars would be turning in their graves if they heard the news.

Andover Liberal Democrats today threw its weight behind the brave Gurkhas right to settle in the UK despite attempts by Gordon Brown's "morally bankrupt" Labour government imposing punitive conditions on these brave ex servicemen.

In yesterdays government ruling imposed 6 tests on ex Gurkhas who despite fighting for King, Queen and Country and currently fighting in Afghanistan for the last 200 years were almost impossible to meet unless you were an officer with 20 years service. Ordinary privates excluded from serving more than 14 years can never make the 20 year qualification.

The Gurkhas have a lasting link with Hampshire and the Gurkha museum is based at Peninsular Barracks. Reacting to the Government announcement on the number of Gurkhas that will be allowed to settle in the UK.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg asked "Are there any moral principles left in this hollowed-out Government?"

"People who are prepared to fight and die for this country should be entitled to live in this country. Yet even this basic principle is broken by a Government desperate to cover its back and wriggle out of its commitments."This is the week Labour lost its last principles: dishonest with the nation about the state of our finances; cheating taxpayers by making MPs' expenses even murkier; and now turning its back on brave and loyal soldiers who simply want to live in the country they love and served."