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?

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.

Bungalows: the people have spoken

In a packed meeting of over 100 people at Velmore Chapel, organised by the Residents Association, the people of Velmore gave a resounding “NO” to the plans of Atlantic Housing Association.

AHA wish to demolish all 123 bungalows on the estate and build 120 flats, 78 houses and just 37 two bedroom bungalows. Where do they expect bungalow dwellers to go? Into flats like the ones shown on this page? We support the Residents Association in their endeavours to stop these plans and say “Think again, AHA.”

Bungalows give more domestic contentment than any other type of home, more than penthouse flats and even country mansions in the nation’s affections, according to a survey by Halifax.
Atlantic Housing is a “not for profit” company who should be seeking the wellbeing of residents and the whole community, not making money out of cramming as many homes into the area as possible.


What is our council doing to Eastleigh?

Local Liberal democrat councillors may say it is a disgrace to rip the heart out of Velmore in newsletters. Yet some of these councillors will sit on the very local area committee that will consider and eventually determine these applications.

Eastleigh Borough Council’s Liberal Democrats hold 34 out of 44 seats on the council. They are committed to granting planning permission for between 615 and 720 houses on brownfield sites in the Borough this year, next year and right up to 2011 and then building similar numbers of dwellings on greenfield sites.


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 a blind 94 year old) 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 thehouses on the service roads. Experience elsewhere in the Borough suggeststhat they are often not used as home owners 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 at rush hour. Firms are moving out of Eastleigh because it can take an hour to travel a couple of miles.


• Overloading of Eastleigh’s Sewers. In the Autumn of 2006 the Eastleigh sewers overflowed 3 times in certain roads discharging untreated sewage into the road. With another 120 dwellings coming on stream the situation is likely to get worse.

What the Conservatives propose

• Preparation of an overall plan for the estate.


• A phased development 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. Tese would be offered exclusively to existing bungalow dwellers who are prepared to move.


• Slowly replace all the bungalows with new bungalows. Make most two bedroom.


• 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, sheltered housing similar to Surrey Court should be built.


• Provide abundant off road parking in front of the houses, not behind.


• All social facilities to be provided by AHA as the redevelopment takes place.


• Improve the sewage system and the road system before these or any more house are built in Chandlers Ford and Eastleigh.

Eastleigh Lib Dems call for massive house building in the borough

The Partnership of Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) has recently published its recommendations for the number of houses to be built in the Solent Area over the next 20 years.

Keith House, leader of Eastleigh Lib Dems, is a member of PUSH which is recommending that 4,000 houses are to be built every year in the Solent area with between 615 and 720 new houses in Eastleigh borough every year. The current building rate in Eastleigh Borough is under 500 per year. These options are higher than for Winchester (390-580).

Conservatives are opposed to a Strategic Development Area in the Borough that leads to the high number of houses allocated to Eastleigh. The Conservative advice is to reject the proposed ‘new town’ and identify just sufficient land for housing to satisfy our own local needs.

We say that our roads are already full of cars during the rush hour. Every time we experience heavy rain certain roads in South Eastleigh are flooded with sewage from a system which is unable to cope with the runoff and effluent from all the houses in the Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford area. We feel that these issues urgently need to be addressed before any more houses are added to an already creaking infrastructure.