Council Tax: the burden on pensioners

In a full Council meeting this year the Conservatives proposed a 4% reduction on Council tax for pensioners. This would have cost the Borough £20,000. Guess what! The other parties voted it out.

What Atlantic Housing don't want you to know

In January the Conservatives prepared the newsletter shown in the photo for you. We had applied for permission from Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC) to publish the two drawings on 24th December 2006. From December until early March we were passed back and forward between Atlantic Housing (AHA) and EBC until eventually AHA refused us permission to print because they said our prints did not do their designs justice. We wanted everyone to know what the plans look like. Atlantic Housing don’t.

What is wrong with the plan?
• It fails to take into account the needs and desires of local residents.
• It does not offer existing bungalow dwellers a chance to continue living on the estate in a bungalow.
• It seeks to move people (such as 94 year old Dorothy Bell) from their homes.
• Overdevelopment. In Kent Road 6 bungalows will be demolished and 32 two bedroom flats will be constructed.
• Lack of car parking facilities. In Westfield Crescent there are plans for 24 new dwellings but only 18 car parking places, including 8 for registered disabled. Where will the remainder of cars be parked and where will visitors park?
• More parking problems. The bungalows on Belmont road will be demolished and be replaced by houses. Car parking places will be behind the houses on the service roads. These will not be used much as homeowners and visitors park on the road. So there is likely to be double parking on Belmont road, which is already heavily used at rush hours.
• Worsening traffic flow around the borough.
• Overloading of Eastleigh’s Sewers.

What the Conservatives propose
• Preparation of an overall plan for the estate in phases over 7-10 years.
• No-one over 75 should be expected to move unless they wish.
• Start with an area where most properties are vacant building 2 bedroom bungalows. These would be offered exclusively to existing bungalow dwellers who are prepared to move.
• Slowly replace all the bungalows with new 2 bedroom bungalows.
• Build some bungalows with small private back gardens and some with communal gardens. Build bungalows around courtyards with central parking to maintain a sense of community.
• Build at least as many bungalows as are currently on the estate. Only then consider building houses or flats.
• If demand is proven, build sheltered housing similar to Surrey Court.
• Provide abundant off road parking in front of the houses, not behind.
• All social facilities to be provided by AHA as development takes place.
• Improve the sewage system and the road system before these or any more house are built in Chandlers Ford and Eastleigh.

Velmore bungalows – what happens next?
Liberal democrats know that passing the 7 Atlantic housing applications just before an election is a vote looser. So they have postponed the April meeting for a report from Age Concern until after the elections on Tuesday May 15th when a determination will be.
What is the Local Area Committee? It is the group of elected councillors from the town of Eastleigh. At present there are the 10 elected councillors for the town of Eastleigh; 7 Liberal democrats, 2 Labour and 1 Independent. But the constitution of that committee could be changed by your vote in the elections on May 3rd.
Is there any way to stop these crazy plans? Yes!
1. Get rid of Liberal Democrat Councillors and replace them with councillors like Robert Quane (Con, Eastleigh Central) and Andrew Ross who will say “NO.” Your vote is important. Please stop these dreadful things happening to our town. Vote Conservative.
2. Attend the meeting in the Committee room, Borough Offices, Leigh Road at 7 pm on Tuesday May 15th.

It's time for a change!

We have now had 12 years of incompetent government by the Liberal Democrats in Eastleigh.

They are building everywhere they can. This raises income from developers contributions to the council (e.g. £250.000 for the Pirelli’s site) and by bigger receipts in Council tax.

But little has been done to improve the state of the roads, to provide more parking and to improve the sewers. Look at the current plans for South Eastleigh!

What will be the consequences of all this development for the people of Eastleigh?

A message for the Liberal Democrats Give us our money back!

Eastleigh Borough Council received £250,000 from developers of the Pirelli estate which has been earmarked for improving Grantham Green.

Where has it gone ?
£2,039 spent on internal staff time
£1,135 for Topographical survey
(Wait for it - it becomes worse) A whopping £17,030 for the Planning Policy Engineers time.
Now it becomes serious;
The cost of a small trampolinewas a staggering £12,847.

An email from the Council states, “Officer’s time is being spent working on a new scheme and further consultation is underway.”

“The nature of the scheme is still to be decided and it is hoped to take an initial report to Cabinet in April 2007. Costs incurred will be charged against the developers and it is estimated that to complete the design and consultation process will cost approximately £30,000”

We already pay our council staff out of the Council Tax, now we are being charged a second time for the same service!!

The conservatives want the money back.

“Give the people the power to decide what to do and let them manage the money to implement their plans.”

Elderly asked to move out

“Atlantic Housing Limited are pestering us to move out of our bungalows“ according to Dorothy Bell of Kent Road.

Dorothy is a sprightly 94 years young and has lived on the Velmore Estate for 42 years, twelve of them in Kent Road. But, both she and her neighbour have had several phone calls from the ominously named Resettlement Officer for Velmore.

Dorothy told us that the Resettlement Officer “phones now and again and keeps on about getting us out of the bungalows. She tries to get people to go to meetings. My neighbour is being pestered too. People who live in other parts of Eastleigh are worried sick that they will be the next.”

We understand that around 25 of the 123 bungalows have become vacant and will not receive new tenants as Atlantic Housing Limited awaits a determination on May 12th on whether they can demolish 123 bungalows and build 120 flats, 78 houses and just 37 two bedroomed bungalows.

Andrew Ross is the Conservative candidate for Eastleigh South. With your help on May 3rd he will begin a long tenure as your councillor and, amongst many important issues to be addressed, will work hard to effect a sensible housing policy within a coherent local plan.

Keith House refuses to listen to the people of Eastleigh

A couple of years ago 13 000 people in Eastleigh signed a petition opposing the taking away of allotments in Woodside and South Street from the people for more housing development. Since then we have been fighting the council and at times the Government over the land.

I have two allotments in Burns Close and I fear that they will soon be under attack from Councillors eager to sell off council land for further development. So I am supporting the fight to retain South Street and Woodside Allotments.

The following is an extract from Cllr. House’s budget speech to Full Council on Monday evening, 26 February 2007. Keith House is leader of the Liberal Democrats in Eastleigh Borough.
The full speech is available via a link on EBC’s home page: http://www.eastleigh.gov.uk/

Cllr. House said:

It has been a year of success for our communities.
But to be candid it has been a frustrating year too.
At the Swan Centre, a stack of legal and tender delays have held up our new cinema and bowling leisure scheme, such that work has still not yet started though the signs are still that it will before the spring is out.

And north of Lakeside, the Council’s proposal for new housing and a wide range of highway and leisure improvements cleared its final approvals from government, only to be immersed in a legal challenge to the Secretary of State’s decision that has still to finally be resolved. Justice moves slowly, not helped by the small number of people who are delaying the provision of major benefits for the town.

As I said last year:
“With consent for 432 new homes, of which 149 will be affordable rented, shared ownership and keyworker homes, we can make real progress in meeting housing need. Secondly, we will create, through high quality design, a clear and definable urban edge to the south of the town. And thirdly we will achieve investment in new walkways through housing areas to the Country Park, improvements to the Country Park itself, new play areas and cycle routes in the south of town, and a fund to stimulate urban regeneration in the town centre.”

There is a lot at stake.

It is everyone’s right to use the courts to further their own cause. And I acknowledge that this package has been controversial with some. But I really do wonder how a small number of people can sleep easily in their beds, knowing they are denying beds to those in greater need than themselves.

So yes, it has been a successful if a frustrating year.”

Tony Murrills, Secretary of Eastleigh Allotments Association says

Contrary to the impression given by Cllr. House, the principles being fought for by the allotments community are of great importance and the outcome of this case could seriously affect hundreds of thousands of allotment holders throughout the Country. It is a fundamental matter of upholding the law, not, as suggested, just a few difficult plot-holders holding up the Council's plans.

What do you think? Should our council be allowed to flout the law and build wherever they like? Or should existing residents have any say about what happens in their town? Post your comments below.

Come to picturesque Eastleigh

When I first came to Eastleigh about seven years ago I was impressed with the tidiness of the environment and the cleanliness of the streets. However, things have gone sadly and badly downhill over the last seven years. Our Liberal Democrat council appointed 37 new car parking attendants a couple of years ago, but they seem to have cut back on all the street cleaning and repair services.

I wonder what visitors from overseas countries such as Austria, which is incredibly clean, think of our town. I would be too embarrassed to invite anyone to walk around these streets in south Eastleigh.

Councillor Airey is Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member for Transport and Streetscene. While the streets around the town centre have been given a facelift, nothing seems to have been done in Eastleigh South.

Councillor Bloom is Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member for the Environment. She boasted recently that Refuse collection was down 25 tons a week. We know where it all goes! Little seems to be done to stop littering our streets. Imagine what it will be like if the Council start charging for refuse collection? There will be even more fly tipping.