Hedge End Blogger

Crime Figures Point Downwards

2012-02-23T19:16:00.000Z

Sign points downwards too

High profile police initiatives are having a positive impact on crime in Hedge End according to a report to this month's Town Council meeting.

Overall crime in the area is down 21%.

Vehicle crime is down 44%.

Violent crime is down 7%.

Criminal damage is down 41%.

The local detection rate is 38% compared to a Hampshire Police Service guideline of 25%.

These improvements are attributed to proactive policing projects such as Operation Nemesis, which has been concentrating on known burglars across Hampshire.

In his report Sgt Mark O'Hanlon reassured councillors and members of the public that the lighter evenings will see renewed attention to antisocial car use in Hedge End's retail parks, and that the Safer Neighbourhoods Team will be holding more surgeries at the library and Sainsbury / Marks and Spencer. Dates and times will be posted on the Hampshire Constabulary web site.

Responding to a question about the imminent closure of the front desk at Hedge End police station, Sgt O'Hanlon informed councillors that a contact pad at the door would connect directly with the control room in the case of emergency, and if an officer was in the station, they would be notified. It will be made easier to contact the local police team online if it is not an emergency, and the police will be making home visits to local residents who are "regulars" at the station. The station will continue to be operational and staffed, it will just no longer be possible to turn up without an appointment and speak to somebody on the desk (something that was relatively uncommon in any case).

Other questions referred to speeding in Maunsell Way, obstructive parking in Woodhouse Lane, antisocial behaviour in Stubbs Drove / Willow Close.

Hedge End Police are now on Twitter and can be contacted by email at hedge.end.north.snt@hampshire.pnn.police.uk.

The Hampshire Police Authority announced earlier this month that the policing component of council tax for 2012/13 will be frozen at last year's level. Despite qualifying for a central government grant of £3 million to compensate for the frozen council tax, the Police Authority will still have to find £20 million in savings.

Introducing .. Your UKIP Candidate

2012-02-20T22:44:00.000Z

Michale O'Donoghue - Candidate on 1st March

My name is Michale O’Donoghue and I am standing for the Parish Council By Election for the Shamblehurst Ward of Hedge End on 1^st March 2012 on behalf of the U.K.Independence Party. I have lived in Hedge End for just over 20 years and currently run my own office stationery supplies business providing office products to businesses, schools, colleges, and health centres.

The reason for standing is threefold.

Firstly – over the past few years – the residents of Hedge End have rarely had a choice at local elections where parties other than the Liberal Democrats fail to field any candidates. The result is that the Liberal Democrats are returned unopposed – no election is held – and that cannot be good for democracy. Indeed – the Parish election of 2011 for the Shamblehurst Ward never happened as there were 3 candidates for 3 vacancies – all Liberal Democrats. It is therefore encouraging to see on this occasion a 4 way battle demonstrating renewed interest in local politics.

Secondly – I was always taught that whilst it is easy to be critical – it is better to be proactive by becoming involved. Hedge End has developed massively in the time I have lived here and the Council by virtue of being almost a single party Council would benefit from new ideas from alternative viewpoints. To the Council I would bring experience of business management from my current role - providing a reasoned argument for or against vanity proposals.

Thirdly – it is more important that we all recognize that Europe as a political basket case is intruding more and more into all our lives – making judgements by unelected commissioners enforceable despite the wishes of our own democratically elected politicians. We see at a national level high risk foreigners being unable to be deported because of “Human Rights”. These people have to be housed somewhere – and Hedge End is a possible somewhere. We see our money being used to support Foreign Aid in countries with a greater wealth than ours – whilst our own people are struggling with high living costs. As a member of UKIP – I am a traditional old school Tory. Trade with Europe Yes – Be controlled politically by Europe – No.

I hope the Shamblehurst Electorate will allow me the opportunity of representing them on Hedge End Council – and will be pleased to answer any questions by Phone to 07760 778130 or email to Michale@tonercam.co.uk

Introducing .. Your Conservative Candidate

2012-02-20T22:43:00.002Z

Paul Redding - Candidate on 1st March

Multiscreen Cinema
Bingo Hall
Night Club
Tenpin Bowling Alley
Sports Complex

New facilities will create jobs for local people and enhance the local economy.

3. What qualities and experience will you bring to the Town Council?

I would bring the ability to listen and communicate at all levels. People tell me that I have an ability to look at issues objectively and from every angle. I have already helped a number of people and ran a successful campaign on behalf of residents against inappropriate development in the area I used to live in. In fact that was when I first realised what can be achieved by local people when they get involved in local issues. Of course, I am a Conservative who believes that local decisions should be taken at a local level; by local people, for local people. To be elected to the Town Council as a Conservative would start to redress the political imbalance which currently exists and I will be determined to ensure that real debate and democracy prevails on the Town Council and that the Council is seen to be accountable for the decisions it makes.

4. What would your priorities be for Hedge End and Shamblehurst ward in particular?

Well, it’s not really about my priorities; it’s more about your priorities. If elected, my duty as a Town Councillor will be to represent your views and pursue your priorities. Having said that, as a local resident and having listened to local people, I would say that helping to set up no cold calling zones in the area would make a real difference to many residents. Like many parts of Hedge End, introducing measures to curb inconsiderate driving and parking will also be a priority. Above all, I want to see your taxes spent as wisely as possible, not frittered away on schemes you neither need nor want.

5. Is there anything else you would like to say to your potential voters?

The balance of power and decision-making across both the Town and Borough Councils is dominated by one political party the (Liberal Democrats). That is not healthy! True Democracy does not currently exist because of this; you can change that by voting for me on March 1st (you do not need your polling card to vote). My InTouch leaflet will be delivered to you soon expressing more good reasons why you should tick the box for Paul Redding. Please feel free to get in touch with any concerns you may have and let me know of any ways I can help.

If you have already used a postal vote to vote for me, may I thank you for your belief in me. I promise to serve you to the fullest of my ability should I be elected.

Email: rddngotis@aol.com

Tel: 01489 783715

Web: www.eastleighconservatives.org.uk

Paul has also sent a copy of his election leaflet which you can read here.

Introducing .. Your Independent Candidate

2012-02-20T22:39:00.000Z

Ray Turner - candidate on 1st March

As promised last week, three of the four candidates in the Shamblehurst Ward by-election on March 1st have agreed to speak to the voters through the pages of Hedge End Blogger. They have all been asked the same four fairly simple questions and have been invited to make a short statement. I'd like to thank them all for taking the time to do this and having the imagination to realise that the internet is a valid vehicle for electioneering.

Ray Turner is standing as an Independent and has provided the following answers to Hedge End Blogger's questions:

1. What do you think of the way that Hedge End has changed and developed in recent years?

I saw Grange Park being built and thought at the time that it was completely out of character with the centre of Hedge End and that parts of it were too densely packed. Subsequent developments have been even more more dense and more out of character. The problem is that when people are living too closely together, social problems can arise. Our planners don't seem to take that into consideration. Developers are too concerned with profit and don't think sufficiently about social issues. We're not building Tower blocks any more, thank goodness, but we are introducing a similar problem by building too densely.

2. How would you like to see it change and develop in the future?

I would like to see Hedge End stabilise and mature into a well-managed Town with a clear identity and a strong community that everybody, from all corners of Hedge End, is willing to participate in. Stability isn't likely to happen in the near future, because there is still pressure to build more houses and roads, but we can make a start on developing our identity and strengthening the community. Encouraging more residents to attend Town Council meetings and/or be prepared to stand for election to the Town Council would be a good first step.

3. What qualities and experience will you bring to the Town Council?

I have worked in the Civil Service previously, for over 20 years, and thus have plenty of experience of working in teams, participating in meetings and chairing them. I left the Civil Service after a period of stress-related depression, caused (frankly) by some very bad management. I understand those problems only too well and I am acutely aware of how issues that seem trivial to some can trigger serious problems for other people. I also think that is a very good experience to have had. It will be very relevant, for instance, when dealing with antisocial behaviour issues in Hedge End.

I have previously been unemployed for a period of nearly two years, not qualifying for any benefits and having to live off my savings, so I know how difficult life can be if you find yourself in that situation. Once again, it was hard at the time but good experience to have had. Now semi-retired (in theory) I work as a parts-delivery driver, working 47 hours a week on the minimum wage and I still don't qualify for any benefits or tax credits. I therefore know exactly what it is like to be in a low paid job, working hard but not getting the rewards, exploited, struggling to stretch the inadequate money to the end of the month, only to find that the Council Tax bill is going up again next year...

4. What would your priorities be for Hedge End and Shamblehurst ward in particular?

As an independent candidate, I am looking to be returned to the opposition on Hedge End Town Council. It would thus be completely unrealistic for me to promise to change anything, as I will not be in a position to do so. For instance, I would like to be able to promise to move the Recycling Centre, but I'm not going to be in a position to deliver that. After this election, the Lib Dems will still have a very large majority on the Town Council and what happens in Hedge End will be down to the way that they vote, or are persuaded to vote, in Council meetings.

What I can promise to do though, and it is my absolute top priority, is to interact with the people of Hedge End and espescially the residents of Shamblehurst ward, to learn about the issues that you are concerned about, make sure they are raised in Town Council Meetings and do my best to obtain a satisfactory solution by arguing the case and working constructively, in a non-partisan way, with the people who hold the real power on the Town Council.

5. Is there anything else you would like to say to your potential voters?

I have never been a member of a political party. Being independent allows me to support what I think is appropriate, whatever the source of the idea. My observation is that none of the parties have the monopoly on being right, despite their grand claims and partisan attitudes. There are ideas from each of the main parties that I can agree with. I do not support any specific ideology and I certainly do not want to be in a position where I am required to promote policies that I don't believe in, or be expected to defend the indefensible. Being independent is a much better place to be.

Raymond has also sent a copy of his election leaflet which you can read here.

Cricket Fans to Subsidise Council Tax

2012-02-20T09:44:00.000Z

Rose Bowl: Cash Cow or White Elephant?

Debate rumbles on - mainly in the letters page of The Echo - about Eastleigh Borough Council's controversial December decision to purchase the Rose Bowl in West End. Ex West End Councillor Martin Kyrle has been defending the Lib Dems' position, provoking a response from West End residents who would like to see Council Leader and Hedge End Councillor Keith House come to the crease himself to answer questions about the bail-out.

Trying to cut through all the bluster and short-pitched bowling from hotel owners who are worried about competition, and political parties who will oppose it just because the Lib Dems are proposing it, the kernel of fact is that the Council will borrow money at a certain rate of interest to buy a piece of real estate which they can lease to a cricket club at a rent higher than the interest on their loan. The surplus will go towards financing council services, filling part of the funding gap caused by the Lib Dem's long term policy of keeping council tax increases below inflation.

What's not to like? Cricket fans, golfers and people who like expensive spa hotels will in effect be helping to keep Eastleigh's council tax down and services running. In common with other councils, Eastleigh already manages a property portfolio, admittedly on a smaller, less spectacular scale. The Rose Bowl deal is an ambitious extension of something the Council has already shown that it is competent to do.

The Council will not be spending taxpayers' money in any real sense, because the money will have to be borrowed, and they can only borrow for projects that have a positive business case. As long as the income line remains higher than the expenditure line, then the council tax payers of Eastleigh will not be subsidising the Rose Bowl.

That said, it is a bail-out despite the protestations of some Lib Dem Councillors that it is not. But it is a bail-out that benefits both parties. The Rose Bowl gets to proceed with its amibitious plans for Hampshire, and the Council gets both the financial surplus and the harder to quantify benefits to the local economy.

Rose Bowl Boss Leaves

Council had already agreed in 2009 to borrow in order to finance the building of the Rose Bowl hotel. The implementation of that decision was delayed by a judicial review instigated by rival hoteliers, leading to a review of the business case and a repeat of the extensive due diligence process which involved consultation with a dozen legal and commercial experts. In the intervening two years some of the risks involved in the project have come into focus: the UK economy with George Osborne and Danny Alexander at the helm looks decidedly shaky, and the plans of Rose Bowl plc have taken blows with both the failure to secure an Australia test match and relegation to the second division. It has now been reported that their MD for the last six years has left.

Nine Lib Dem councillors were absent for December's debate - including three of Hedge End's seven representatives - and the debate and voting split on party lines. All councillors will have read the same reports and documents and attended the same briefings and seminars, but all the Conservatives decided to oppose the purchase and only the Lib Dems supported it. Unless those absentee Lib Dems were dissenters kept away from the debate to preserve party unity...

Was Report "Sexed Up"?

Independent Cllr Glynn Davies-Dear accused the administration of "sexing up" the Rose Bowl report by inflating the likely new jobs to be generated by the project. He claimed that a newly built, similarly sized, hotel in Reading was only employing 70 people, not the 500 hoped for in West End.

He may well prove to be correct, but even 70 jobs are not to be sniffed at as the UK lurches towards three million unemployed under the Conservative / Lib Dem Coalition, and the number of jobs is not critical to the business case. The important thing, as pointed out in the conclusion of the report, and alluded to by the Conservative Leader, Cllr Godfrey Olson, is: "This is not a risk free project and Members do need to understand and consider the risks involved."

A succcession of Lib Dem councillors got to their feet on 15th December to state that "the benefits outweigh the risks". When so many come out with exactly the same wording it looks likely that that is the party line, the sound bite that the leadership wanted to be reported. Parroting the words dictated by their leader, those councillors did not convince that they had themselves, personally, considered and understood the risks.

Luckily for Hedge End, we have the chance to question our borough councillors at the town council meeting each month and Cllr Louise Bloom subsequently made clear that owning the ground is fundamental to managing the risks that might impact the income stream from the Rose Bowl.

2000 Houses?

Councillors have not been explicit on how ownership of the land would provide a plan B in the event of the income stream failing. Presumably the Council would have to sell it and use the revenue to pay off what is left of the loan to avoid a massive and unsustainable increase in Council Tax.

It's easy to see that the Council could grant planning permission for 2000 or so houses on the 167 acre site and more than recoup any losses by selling it as building land, thus digging itself out of a financial hole and coincidentally relieving pressure on green field sites in the Hedge End and Botley countryside. It would require a major change to the Lib Dems' Local Plan, though, as currently it only allows for five hundred new houses to be built in West End between now and 2029 (compared to nearly 4,000 in Hedge End and Botley).

Nobody wants Rose Bowl plc to fail and the Hampshire cricket team to be made homeless, but the question remains: In the worst case scenario, would the Council have the ruthlessness and courage to carry out its plan B?

Fancy a Facelift for your Road?

2012-02-17T16:51:00.000Z

Cracked and Damaged Road Surface

Residents in Shamblehurst Ward are currently seeing one of the advantages of a by-election which the ruling Lib Dems are desperate not to lose (judging by the number of leaflets they are delivering).

Moss Covered Pavement

Grass and Weeds Growing in Gutter

The by-election in Shamblehurst was formally called on 26th January, and at the very next meeting of the Lib Dem cabinet, they agreed to open the corporate coffers to fund a £130,000 facelift for Grange Park Mobile Homes.

It's a rotten coincidence that makes a planned and necessary improvement project look like a piece of blatant electioneering.

Blocked Drain

New Vacancy on Town Council

People living in another part of Hedge End might want to consider if a by-election in their ward might bring a similar coincidence and facelift to their roads, as a vacancy has been announced for the Town Council Ward of St Helen's, following the death of a sitting councillor.

Damaged Grass Verge

Broken Utility Cover

If ten people who live in that ward petition the Returning Officer at Eastleigh Borough Council, a by-election will be called to fill the vacancy. Alternatively the Town Council has the power to co-opt a new member until the next planned elections in 2015.

If a by-election happens, it will take place on the same day as the Borough Council elections in May 2012.

Neglected Roads and Pavements

As these photos (all taken this week in St Helen's Ward) show, there are plenty of opportunities to improve the condition of the roads and pavements. In fact it makes you wonder what "Team Lib Dem" actually get up to between elections and leaflet deliveries.

Rough and Uneven Pavement

If there is a similar, or worse, example of pavement or road neglect near where you live, send me a photo (hedgeendblogger@gmail.com), including the road where taken, and I will add it to the Hall of Shame.

St Helen's Ward

Broken Kerbstone

You can send me a photo from anywhere in Hedge End, but only people who are on the electoral register for the ward of St Helen's can call for a by-election. St Helen's is the south-eastern part of Hedge End. Its boundaries are St John's Road, Freegrounds Road, Tanhouse Lane and Heathouse Lane and it includes Bursledon Road, St Helen's Road, Cranbourne Park, Woodstock Close, Yardley Road, Sherwood Avenue and Tanhouse Close.

There is a map showing all of Hedge End's electoral wards on the Town Council web site.

Sunken Utility Cover

Neglected Utility Cover

Damaged Kerb

Lib Dems 1 Countryside 0

2012-02-16T09:50:00.002Z

Meadow soon to be a car park

Despite the resolute opposition of local Hedge End Councillors, led by Cllr Derek Pretty (Grange Park), Eastleigh's Lib Dem cabinet has voted in favour of a car park and against a wildflower meadow at Hedge End station.

Although not a cabinet member, Cllr Pretty spoke against the scheme at the cabinet meeting on 9th February before rushing back to Hedge End to chair that evening's meeting of the Town Council's Finance and Administration Committee. His ward colleague Cllr Louise Bloom, who is a cabinet member, voted against and requested her opposition be recorded in the minutes.

Unfortunately for the nearby residents who will now have a noisy car park at the bottom of their gardens, and for the wildflowers and biodiversity of Hedge End, the trusty Lib Dem loyalist bulldozer came out of the garage to brush their objections aside and proceed with the next phase of the project.

At Wednesday's meeting of Hedge End Town Council, Cllr Pretty declared that he was "disappointed" in the outcome. Cllr Bloom pointed out that the Local Area Committee will have another chance to vote on this when the Council applies to itself for planning permission.

It will be interesting to see how Hedge End Town Council responds to that planning application when it is consulted.

Lib Dem election promise to stand up against more traffic

Councillor Puts Town Before Borough

2012-02-14T13:38:00.000Z

Which Hat to Wear?

Hedge End Town Councillor Rupert Kyrle is also Chair of the Borough's Local Area Committee, a parish councillor in Botley and County Councillor for the Botley and Hedge End division, so he has a lot on his plate and a lot of demands on his time.

When the Chair of Hedge End Town Council announced last month that the Annual Parish Assembly for Hedge End would take place on 12th March, Rupert was worried. There was a planned private meeting of Borough Councillors in his diary for that day. This meant that a total of nine dual-hatted town councillors would have to choose between town council and borough council duties, a situation that has caused problems recently as reported in Eastleigh News.

Rupert himself has been very keen to attend the parish assembly in recent years, to report in person to the people of Hedge End what the LAC has been up to in the last twelve months, and this conflict would also affect the Chair and Vice Chair of the Town Council, and four of the five committee chairs, all of whom serve on both Borough and Town Councils.

It was therefore good news for them all when it was announced at January's Local Area Committee that the Borough meeting would be postponed for a week, enabling all borough councillors to attend the Hedge End parish assembly after all.

The Annual Parish Assembly is not a meeting of the Town Council, but a meeting for the whole parish of Hedge End, organised by the Town Council. It is a statutory requirement to hold this meeting between March and May each year, and it offers a chance for the Council to report back to its parishioners and for those parishioners to ask questions and feed back on the Council's performance. In recent years Hedge End has also used the event to present its "Serving the Community" awards, although last year attendance was low as I reported here.

Picture credit: Eric Bouliane

Diamond Jubilee

2012-02-13T08:09:00.000Z

Racehorse named for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee, the racehorse named to mark the only previous occasion one of our monarchs reached the 60 year milestone, was the leading colt of his generation, winning five races in the 1900 season before being exported to stud in Argentina.

It is unlikely that Hedge End Town Council will name a racehorse to celebrate the 2012 jubilee, but the Community and Culture Committee meets on Tuesday to discuss a rather more realistic way to mark the anniversary. It will consider the merits of working in partnership with the Hedge End Carnival Committee to stage a Jubilee Street Party with funding from the Town Council's coffers.

In what looks to be a busy evening, the committee will also discuss the Hedge End Festival at the Berry Theatre, a Hedge End calendar for 2013, twinning with Möckmühl, and the provision of grants to local organisations.

The meeting starts at 7:00pm in the 2000 Centre, and is open to the public. The official agenda is on the Town Council's web site here.

Shamblehurst By-Election Goes Digital

2012-02-12T23:05:00.001Z

Democracy in Hedge End is starting to embrace the internet! Three of the four candidates in the March 1st by-election have agreed to answer a short questionnaire and provide a short online election address to Hedge End Blogger.

The questions are intended to reveal something about the candidates themselves and what they think they can bring to the Town Council, and what they think about Hedge End and its future.

I hope to have responses from the three candidates by the end of the week. In fact, I am hoping that there will be a change of mind on the part of the only candidate who has declined my invitation so far, and that all four will have agreed to participate by the end of the week.

The four candidates are (in alphabetical order of first name for a change):

Michale Steven O'Donoghue of Melbourne Gardens (UKIP)

Paul Redding of Newcliffe Gardens (Conservative Party)

Raymond Ronald Turner of Newcliffe Gardens (Independent)

Richard Sean Effeny of Walker Gardens (Liberal Democrat)

Previous posts on this subject are: "By-Election Looms" and "Shamblehurst By-Election Date Set"

Is Lily Laburnum Still Safe?

2012-02-08T09:54:00.000Z

Borough Council Refused to Protect These Trees

A number of Hedge End people have asked me recently what is happening about plans to convert this green space outside the Village Hall to a children's play area. In June last year, the Town Council agreed with my resolution to protect the attractive laburnum tree, named Lily by campaigners, from felling and urged the Village Hall Management Committee and Pre-School to find a solution for their children which does not involve killing mature trees.

In the meantime local campaigners have been disappointed that Eastleigh Borough Council did not see fit to confirm a tree preservation order which would have given Lily a degree of formal protection. Campaigners in favour of the tree are now understandably concerned that public opinion is once again the only defence against the original plans to cut Lily down. Communities across the country are planting trees to celebrate the Royal Jubilee. It would be tragic if Hedge End was to go the other way and cut down a tree in Jubilee year.

Clarification is needed, and I have asked for an update at Thursday's Finance and Administration Committee.

The committee will also approve the Town Council's monthly expenditure, receive an update on the new storage building for grounds maintenance equipment at Pavilion Road, and discuss leasing arrangements with the St Luke's Pharmacy.

Yobs to Close Short Cut?

2012-02-07T22:45:00.000Z

Antisocial behaviour by late night pedestrians using the unofficial short cut between Stubbs Drove and Willow Close and Aspen Close has brought local residents to the end of their tether. They came to the Town Council last year asking for help in restoring tranquillity to this area of Hedge End.

The Council has been consulting people who live in the area, and some who use the cut, and representatives of both parties have come to meetings to make their case. Discussions with the County Rights of Way Officer have led to the suggestion that the Town Council put a fence and gate on the land they own to the south of Stubbs Drove. The gate would be open during the hours of daylight, but in the dark even law-abiding pedestrians going about their legitimate business would have to go the long way round.

A report on the latest consultation will be presented to the Recreation and Amenities Committee on Wednesday 8th February.

Other items on the agenda include:

Hedge End Junior Cricket Club's plans for the new season,

Green Flag Community Award for the Recreation Ground,

Whether dogs should be on lead only in our local parks,

Protecting Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation,

and The Village Centre Clock.

The Queen's College Hates Hedge End Countryside

2012-02-07T22:15:00.000Z

Oxford Institution Wants to Build on Our Fields

With no fewer than ten comments on the draft local plan, The Queen's College is showing more interest in the future of Hedge End than many of our elected town councillors. Clearly worried that the value of their own land holdings will go down if they are excluded from the development, most of their comments can be paraphrased as "build on our land, not Boorley Green", or "build on our land, not Chestnut Avenue".

Desperate to get their land north of Hedge End included in the Lib Dem plans for almost 4,000 houses in Hedge End and Botley, they are even opposing the principle of gaps between our settlements and insist that the proposed countryside policy is "unnecessary".

The Queen's College is a wealthy institution that can call on and pay for all sorts of planning consultants and lawyers to defend its interests. Ordinary people (the overwhelming majority of whom have opposed the Lib Dem's plans for large scale development in our area) rely on our local councils to stand up against these vested interests. That is why Hedge End Town Council were guilty of dereliction of duty in refusing to debate and agree a response to the draft plan. Just about every other parish council in the area has commented, but there is nothing from Hedge End.

The message given is that with two notable exceptions, the Lib Dems on the Town Council do not care what happens to Hedge End, and the wealthy landowners and developers are encouraged to bulldoze ahead with their plans to concrete over our green fields.

When will the Lib Dems keep their election promise to stand up for our area against more building and traffic?

The Queen's College Photo credit : James

Lib Dems Listen on Library Lolly

2012-02-02T13:51:00.000Z

The rapidly increasing cost of installing self service kiosks in Hedge End Library set alarm bells ringing back in January when I blogged "Library Costs Treble in Three Months". My concerns multiplied when I stumbled across an Isle of Wight blog which discussed the library self service project on the Island. It quotes an expert and independent consultant on these kiosks saying that "you should expect to pay £6-12,000 for one of these devices".

That means that the £7,000 figure quoted to the Community and Culture Committee in November is more reasonable than the £23,000 in the report presented to the HEWEB Local Area Committee on 30th January. It certainly looks at first sight as if Ken Thornber's Conservatives are trying to rip off the Hedge End council tax payers.

Taking advantage of the invitation for members of the public to address the committee on any agenda item, I pointed out my concerrns at the LAC meeting (making clear that I was generally in favour of the steps being taken by the Borough and Town Councils to mitigate the worst effects of the County's library cuts). It's impossible to know whether any of the committee members would have questioned the costs without my intervention, because the rules of engagement are that members of the public have to say their piece and shut up before the real debate (between members) gets going.

Once they had it pointed out to them however, Cllr Louise Bloom and one or two of her Lib Dem colleagues did seem to agree that there was a discrepancy that should be explained. It may be that the increase is explained by additional cabling and new desks required to accommodate the kiosks. It may be that the cost of tagging all the books is included. It still looks a high figure though and I hope that our councillors will follow through and keep an eye on these bills.

Lib Dems Split Over Station Car Park

2012-02-01T14:42:00.001Z

Car Park is Rarely Full

As predicted in my post last week, the issue of whether to extend Hedge End station car park proved a difficult one for local Lib Dems. Asked whether to proceed with a project that will destroy a wild flower meadow in order to extend a car park which is only three-quarters full most days while commuters enjoy free parking in nearby residential roads, the Lib Dem members of the HEWEB Local Area Committee could not agree, leaving the Chair to use his casting vote to break the deadlock.

Council's Own Wildflower Meadow Threatened

This came after the bombshell news that the committee meeting on 30th January was not in fact empowered to make any decision on the project, and that whatever the local councillors decided, the Borough Council cabinet would override them. So the real decision will be made by councillors from Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, Netley Abbey, Bishopstoke and Fair Oak and Horton Heath who depend for their cabinet posts on the patronage of Lib Dem Leader and supporter of the car park extension Cllr Keith House.

Despite having the wind somewhat taken out of his sails by this bureaucratic technicality, Grange Park Cllr Derek Pretty put up a staunch defence on behalf of the nearby residents (represented by two speakers from the public gallery who eloquently opposed the project). His alternative recommendations to address immediately the parking problems in residential streets and postpone any decision on the car park extension until it is shown to be necessary were supported by fellow Grange Park Cllr Louise Bloom.

Cllr House made it clear that he would prefer to spend money now - even to the extent of "buying out" the covenants that currently protect the land - to solve a problem that might or might not exist in the future. Cllr Dan Clarke agreed with his leader and showed off his growing Lib Dem loyalist credentials by quoting liberal luminary David Lloyd George(*). Like Cllr Clarke, Cllr Bruce Tennent chose not to support his Grange Park voters as he spoke in favour of the Lib Dem leadership line.

When it came to the vote, five were in favour of Cllr Pretty's compromise proposal and five against. Cllr Tony Noyce (West End) abstained, and Cllr Mick Wheatley (Hedge End) had mysteriously absented himself from the meeting without explanation. The tension of a five-five split was broken a few seconds later when Committee Chair Cllr Rupert Kyrle put his casting vote at the disposal of the Lib Dem party line.

The votes in favour of delaying the decision came from Cllrs Pretty, Bloom, Welsh and (Jenny) Hughes from Hedge End and Cllr Goodall from West End. Those against were Cllrs House (Hedge End), Fraser (Botley), Kyrle (Botley), Tennent (West End) and Clarke (West End).

Cllr Pretty's alternative recommendations having failed on the chair's casting vote, consideration then returned to the published recommendations. These were amended to include a plea to cabinet that any yellow lines required to discourage parking in nearby roads be payed for from corporate, not local, funds. It is surprisingly expensive to get a yellow strip painted along the gutter (there have to be consultations, reports, additional signage and all manner of legal and administrative high-jinks).

When it came to this second vote, Cllr Noyce came off the fence and Cllr Goodall was clearly satisfied with the additional request for money, and now sided with the leadership so that the proposals supported by Cllr House were passed seven to four. It therefore looks likely that the Lib Dem cabinet will bulldoze ahead with the car park extension despite the valiant opposition of some of our Hedge End councillors.

It must have been frustrating for the independently minded committee members who spoke and voted against the party leadership line in favour of Hedge End people. It only needed one more vote, and we were all left wondering how Cllr Wheatley would have voted had he been in the room. Would he have sided with Cllrs Pretty and Jenny Hughes in line with their joint election promise to "Save the Countryside"? Would he have voted with the majority of Hedge End councillors or with those from outside Hedge End who mantained the Eastleigh leadership's preferred outcome?

(*) Footnote: Cllr Clarke quoted an obscure Lloyd George aphorism that "there is nothing more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps", which although witty and entertaining, was not exactly apposite in this case, because this is the second extension to the car park, so the Council supported by Cllr Clarke is doing precisely what Lloyd George was warning against.

RIP Cllr Pearl Hicks

2012-01-30T22:33:00.002Z

The death has been announced of long serving town councillor Pearl Hicks. Pearl had been admitted to hospital following a stroke and a fall resulting in a broken hip. She died in the early hours of 23rd January.

The Hedge End Town Council web site today carried the following tribute:

"It is with great sadness that the Town Council announces the death of Cllr. Pearl Hicks after a short illness. Pearl had served the community as Councillor for many years and most recently for the St Helen's Ward. Renowned for her strength of character and determination, membership of the Community and Culture Committee, contributing to the Christmas Lights festivities and Chairman of the Council 2007/2008, she will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

As a mark of respect the Town Council offices will close on the morning of Wednesday 1st February 2012 during the funeral service to be conducted at the Wessex Crematorium at 09.30am. Donations in memory of Pearl are to be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society."

In the time I knew Pearl she had been chair of the Town Council and chair of the Community Events and Grants Committee. She was dedicated to Hedge End and was proud that her late husband Ray had also been chair of the Council.

Frustrated in recent months that failing health was affecting her mobility and ability to keep serving the community to the same standard, she still turned out for the Hedge End Christmas Lights event in December.

Pearl had also been chair of the local Lib Dems, but always put Hedge End before party. She was one of the Lib Dem members who actively stayed in touch after I resigned from the party. I will miss Pearl, and so will Hedge End Town Council.

Update Wednesday 1st February - Hedge End Town Clerk Kevin Glyn-Davies delivered an excellent eulogy at Pearl's funeral today. I hope he has it typed up and published on the Town Council web site, as it gives a far more comprehensive summary of her service to our community.

(Photo credit: Hedge End Town Council)

Green Field or Car Park?

2012-01-27T08:52:00.000Z

Threatened green space

The fate of one of Hedge End's fast disappearing green spaces will be decided on Monday when the Lib Dem Local Area Committee of Eastleigh Borough Council have to decide whether to push ahead with unpopular plans to extend the (rarely full) station car park.

A survey of nearby residents in June last year revealed overwhelming opposition to the plan. The Lib Dems clearly did not like this result as they commissioned another consultation in September, this time asking people living even further away what they thought. Even this exercise revealed a large majority against more concrete and tarmac.

In the face of local opposition and with the burden of a "Save Our Countryside" election promise last May, our councillors have a difficult decision. The report to be presented recommends going ahead with the plan despite acknowledging that average occupancy of the existing parking spaces is only 70-75% and that even a £3 parking charge (which would be retained to pay for the extension) diverts commuter parking into nearby residential roads, for which there is evidence in my July blog post - here.

Other agenda items of interest to Hedge End are:

Allocation of funds totalling £11,000 to various youth and community organisations

Financial support for Community Speedwatch (Upper Northam Road, Turnpike Way, Botley Road and Kings Copse Ave are mentioned as early candidates)

Investment of £23,000 in library equipment to help Conservative Hampshire County Council cut back on paid staff in Hedge End library (See earlier blog post - here).

The meeting starts at 7:00pm in the 2000 Centre and is open to the public. The full agenda is on the Council web site - here.

Street Snooker - Town Council Consults

2012-01-25T11:03:00.000Z

Whatever happened to jumpers for goalposts? Street Snooker could be coming to a recreation ground in Hedge End. The Town Council is consulting on whether to install one or more of these new games, which have recently been featured on BBC TV.

From a personal point of view I have concerns about how much they would really be used and for how long after the initial novelty wears off, and about the visual impact of a bright green wall on people who use our recs for informal leisure and relaxation, and whose houses overlook the rec. Greta Park, Turnpike Way and Dowd's Farm Park have been mentioned as possible locations.

Details of the consultation are on the Town Council web site - here -, and I do hope that as many people as possible make their views known to the Council and their Councillors so that we can make an informed decision on how to spend your money.

You can email me at keith.day@hedgeend-tc.gov.uk if you do not want to leave a comment on this blog.

Picture credit - zawtowers

Library Costs Treble in Three Months

2012-01-23T21:56:00.000Z

Something fishy in the figures has emerged following the County Council's consultation on reducing the opening hours of Hedge End library.

Both Hedge End Town Council and Eastleigh Borough Council opposed the Conservatives' plans to close the library on Wednesdays. Discussions between the three bodies involved resulted in a plan to maintain the existing opening hours by recruiting volunteers and installing self-service scanning kiosks. The Town Council would recruit the volunteers and the Borough (in the form of the HEWEB Local Area Committee) would assist with the provision of the hardware.

In November it was reported (to the Community and Culture Committee of the Town Council) that each kiosk would cost in the region of £7,000. Next Monday, the LAC will be asked to approve a report which puts the costs at £22,800 per kiosk, a huge increase in just three months.

Link to Hedge End Blogger post on the consultation (2nd November)

Link to Eastleigh News article on the call for volunteers (22nd January)

Shamblehurst By-Election Date Set

2012-01-16T10:06:00.000Z

The by-election caused by the resignation of Lib Dem Cllr David Humby after only eight months of his four year term will take place on 1st March. The date was confirmed at the 12th January meeting of the Town Council Finance and Administration Committee.

The Town Council will foot the bill for the by-election, which is estimated to be in the region of three to four thousand pounds. Polling will take place at St Luke's Church on St David's Day, but as was pointed out by Cllr Keith House at the meeting, postal votes are likely to be key to electoral success.

Turnout for parish / town council by-elections is usually very low. Electors who apply to vote postally show that they are more likely to vote than not. It will therefore be in the interest of candidates to make sure they get their messages out before the postal voting slips are delivered.

By-Election Looms

2012-01-10T18:24:00.000Z

Following the resignation before Christmas of Lib Dem Town Councillor David Humby, the Conservatives have stated that they have collected the necessary signatures from local residents to call for a by-election in Shamblehurst Ward.

It looks as if the Tories are better organised in Hedge End than they were in May last year when they failed to put up a single candidate in the Town Council elections.

The Lib Dems could only put up a full slate of candidates in May by pulling in members from West End and Botley. Will they find a Hedge End candidate this time round?

Labour are another party which failed to put up candidates for the Town Council in May, and they seemed to have problems finding local candidates for the Borough elections as well. Has Ed Milliband's leadership inspired any Hedge End Labour supporters to stand for the Town Council?

UKIP did put up a candidate in May, so it is likely they will want to contest this by-election.

And then there is the possibility that a non-partisan resident might stand as an independent to represent Hedge End rather than a party's interests.

A Promise Kept

2012-01-10T09:52:00.000Z

Good news for young people came Monday evening as the new Hedge End, West End and Botley Youth Partnership became a reality.

Nearly fifty local people filled the small hall at the Hedge End 2000 Centre as the meeting, chaired by Town Councillor, Borough Councillor and County Councillor Rupert Kyrle, approved a constitution establishing a committee of trustees to keep youth services - including The Box in Wildern Lane - running across the three parishes in the face of swingeing cuts imposed by the Conservative County Council.

As Rupert said in his opening remarks, a promise had been made to the HEWEB Youth Council that The Box would be kept open, and Monday's meeting was a major milestone towards the keeping of that promise. It is still not clear if the County will impose any conditions on the transfer of the building itself and other assets to the partnership, but people were optimistic that agreement would be forthcoming.

The first committee will consist of some local councillors (including Hedge End Town Councillors Dan Clarke and Jenny Hughes in addition to Rupert) and representatives from the Scouts, the Teenage Drop In Centre, YMCA, Wildern School, local churches, other youth organisations and even one non-aligned member of the public. Meetings will be held in public at a time which allows young people from the Youth Council and other organisations to attend and give representations.

An emotional presentation by colleagues and young people also marked the departure of three local youth workers from Hampshire County Council. One of them described the rewards of working with young people: "They challenge, they question and they don't accept".

Not a bad motto for all of us in week which saw County Leader Ken Thornber manufacturing a cabinet post for a party crony.

House Hits Out at Hampshire Hogs

2012-01-05T23:14:00.000Z

"Now is not the time to increase the size of the Cabinet," according to Hedge End Councillor Keith House - who is also leader of the Lib Dem opposition at Hampshire County Council and County member for Hamble-le-Rice. Cllr House was responding to County Supremo Ken Thornber's decision to appoint Basingstoke Councillor Stephen Reid as his new "executive member for strategic development".

It is certainly a fair comment that at a time of austerity, public service cuts and redundancies, it is politically inept even to give the appearance of manufacturing a job for a party crony, particularly when it has been done - according to the Echo report here - without any public debate or consultation.

Unfortunately attention has been partly deflected away from the substance of the report into a party political handbag fight over whether the Conservatives have been unduly secretive or whether the Lib Dems have breached a confidence. The gory details of who sent which email to whom are documented by Eastleigh News here.

Cllr House goes on to claim that with a reduced budget and fewer staff it should be possible to run Hampshire with a smaller cabinet. Again, that is a fair comment, but it does raise the question what is the best size for a cabinet.

Let's take Eastleigh Borough Council as a good example.

Cllr House is the executive leader of Eastleigh in much the same way that Cllr Thornber is the leader at Hampshire. When introducing efficiency savings in 2011, Eastleigh chose to keep its cabinet the same size and instead to reduce the number of local area committee meetings to be held in public and to sack two of its scrutiny panels.

Eastleigh in consequence has eight cabinet members for a council of 44 members. Even with Cllr Reid's elevation to executive status Hampshire will only have ten cabinet members for a council of 78. If Eastleigh were to reduce its cabinet to match Hampshire in proportion to the council size, Cllr House would have to sack two of his Lib Dem cabinet colleagues.

Hampshire estimates it spends about £1,913 million on services(1), so just under £200 million per cabinet member. In comparison, Eastleigh's budget of £61 million works out at less than £8 million per cabinet member.

Eastleigh employs about 500 people, which gives a cabinet member to employee ratio of one to 60. Hampshire, with an employee count of about 40,000, has one cabinet member for every 4,000 employees.

It was perhaps unwise of Cllr House to draw attention to reduced budget and employee headcount in calling for a smaller cabinet when Eastleigh's own budget and staff are so much smaller than Hampshire's and his own cabinet is almost the same size as Cllr Thornber's. Direct comparisons are difficult to make, but when there are orders of magnitude in the difference between the two councils, it is justifiable to ask whether one or two of Eastleigh's portfolios could be combined in the interest of further efficiencies.

Cllr House is quite right to point out inappropriate spending by Hampshire and to question unnecessary secrecy in the County's decision making processes, but he needs to make sure his own back yard at Eastleigh is beyond reproach as well.

(1) All figures are taken from the councils' own web sites
(Picture credit Joy Schoenberger)

Hedge End Freezes Council Tax

2011-12-26T16:00:00.001Z

Hedge End Town Council has agreed a budget for 2012/2013 which maintains its council tax precept at the same level as 2011/2012. Unlike the Borough and County Councils, the Town Council will receive no grant from your central taxes to cover any budget shortfall resulting from this change to the long standing Lib Dem policy of putting the Town Council precept up each year. The freeze is made possible by continuing efforts to reduce ongoing costs and cutting back on proposed capital projects for the coming year.

The Council is still discussing changes to charges for community and sports facilities, but it is looking likely that all hirers will be subject to an increase in line with inflation for the coming year. That is what is required to balance the books, and a working party convened on 30th December failed after two hours of discussions to come up with a feasible and fair alternative. Its recommendation to the January Recreation and Amenities Committee will be to confirm a 5.2% increase for all hirers and that the working party will continue to meet to discuss ways of addressing historical anomalies in the Council's charging structures.

Lib Dems - More Broken Promises

2011-12-26T15:03:00.000Z

For the third time this year, the overwhelming Lib Dem majority on Hedge End Town Council have avoided any public debate on the Borough Council's local plan consultation.

After promising at the May elections to "stand up for our area against more building and even more traffic" local Lib Dems have failed even to discuss plans to build nearly 4,000 houses in Hedge End and Botley, while the same plan proposes only 68 new houses in Hamble and 536 in West End.

In July, full council agreed to defer any discussion until September. In September the decision made was to discuss and agree a response at the December meetings of Highways and Planning and Full Council.

But come the December meeting, there was no item on the agenda for this subject. This was doubly strange as not only were Lib Dem heavyweights Keith House and Rupert Kyrle behind the September resolution to discuss the plan in December, but chair of Highways and Planning Committee, Cllr Cynthia Garton, reported that she had specifically asked that the discussion be deferred to Full Council.

There has been no explanation why the Lib Dems did not follow their own September resolution to "make a full response to the Borough" in December.

Hedge End Lib Dems have failed to represent Hedge End voters and they have failed to keep their election promises.

Botley Parish Council, in contrast, is not swamped by Lib Dems, and is talking about budgeting for legal representation to oppose the Borough's plans in 2012/13.

July Council Minutes
September Council Minutes
December Council Minutes
Eastleigh News Report on September Meeting
Eastleigh News Report on December Meeting

Berry "First Class"

2011-12-19T14:39:00.001Z

It is great to see Hedge End's new theatre getting such good reviews for its first Christmas show, Hansel and Gretel.

The Daily Echo has described it as "simply first class ... The Berry Theatre proves the perfect venue", and online review site mintsouth.com exhorts: "If you are thinking of taking the children to a Christmas show, make sure you take them to Hansel and Gretel ... you are guaranteed to be going home with very happy children ... and they won't be the only ones ... with smiles on their faces."

Congratulations to director Sarah Brigham and all the team.

The show runs until Christmas Eve, although ticket availability is already limited for Friday and Saturday.

Hedge End's New "No" to Nick Clegg

2011-11-17T23:10:00.000Z

Plans in tatters?

"Bad for Democracy" - Hedge End town councillors were unanimous in their criticism of proposals to split the Eastleigh parliamentary consituency down the middle.

As previously reported (here), the suggested Hedge End and Hamble consituency would throw the town into an artificial mish-mash of wards with no community links, split neighbouring West End down the middle and pluck Bitterne and Thornhill out of Southampton for no good reason other than Nick Clegg's obsession that all constituencies be the same size.

Even leading Lib Dem councillors admitted at November's Town Council meeting that the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act - introduced by their own party leader - is flawed in so far as it gives insufficient importance to community, historical or geographical criteria in determining constituency boundaries. The Boundary Commission have merely followed the guidance in the Act.

Cllr Keith House recalled knocking on doors in Woolston when it was tacked on to the Eastleigh Constituency in a previous boundary change and getting the unamibiguous message that Southampton voters only want to vote for a Southampton MP. He felt that voters in Bitterne and Thornhill would feel the same way and that turnout would suffer as a result.

In calling for no change to be made to the existing Eastleigh constituency (which is already the "right size" according to the Con Dem Coalition's calculations) Hedge End Town Council is joining a nationwide movement of opposition to the constituency changes.

In Cornwall a Tory MP has described them as a "dog's dinner".

In Scotland the Electoral Reform Society has criticised a "cold mathematical vision of equality" which " flies in the face of real communities, simple geography and common sense."

In Southampton, Labour MP John Denham has pointed out:

"Voters in Bitterne will be part of a constituency which stretches to the outskirts of Portsmouth. So their MP will have Saints fans at one end and Pompey fans at the other. They will have to say they are not interested in football.”

“This was just one example of the nonsense of linking Bitterne and Thornhill with Hamble, Warsash, Titchfield and Parkgate. People want their MP to represent the real community they live in. Southampton voters want to vote for a Southampton MP.”

Following the overwhelming rejection of his new voting system in the May referendum, Clegg's plans for electoral reform look like being in tatters if the new constituencies are thrown out too. It is doubtful whether improved proposals could be drawn up in time for them to take effect at the next general election in 2015.

Town Council minutes are published here.

The full text of the Town Council's objection as discussed at the meeting is available here.

Eastleigh Borough Council's response to the proposals will be decided by the Administration Committee on 21st November.

Photo credit: David Spender

Lib Dems Resting on Laurels

2011-11-15T09:01:00.000Z

“Every other council could raise its game if it wanted to, it’s a matter of political will,” said Hedge End Town Councillor and Borough Leader Keith House in response to a Daily Echo report putting Eastleigh top of the league table of Hampshire councils' recycling rates.

Eastleigh's 43% of waste recycled is indeed impressive compared to neighbouring councils, some of which only achieve percentages in the low twenties, and Eastleigh is undoubtedly a leader in innovation locally with its weekly collection of food waste for recycling. However, the percentage is one point down from last year, when Eastleigh achieved 44%

Look a bit further afield, moreover, and The Guardian reports that there are councils which manage to recycle 64-65% of their waste. If Bournemouth can recycle 64%, why can't Eastleigh? Are the Lib Dems resting on their laurels instead of putting them in the garden waste bag?

Cllr House's fellow Lib Dem Town Councillor, and cabinet member with responsibility for the environment, Louise Bloom recently said: "We know that around 70% of waste can be recycled so we are aiming to further improve the amount we recycle. I would encourage all our residents to recycle their bottles and jars."

A report by the now defunct Environment Scrutiny Panel earlier this year claimed that Eastleigh was already collecting 85% of the available glass. So residents are already doing a pretty good job of recycling bottles and jars. Perhaps Eastleigh too needs is a bit of the political will which is apparently missing in our neighbouring councils to increase recycling rates.

Hedge End - The Future?

2011-11-14T09:31:00.000Z

Local Lib Dems' promises to "stand up against more building and even more traffic" in Hedge End will come under scrutiny on Tuesday 15th November.

Eastleigh Borough Council's Draft Local Plan exhibition comes to the Village Hall in Hedge End between 2pm and 8pm.

Attention will doubtless focus on the huge housing developments for which Hedge End Lib Dem councillors have repeatedly voted. The plan proposes 3,700 more houses in Hedge End and Botley - nearly 40% of the 9,400 proposed for the Borough as a whole.

The draft plan also provides for:

Two brand new roads at Botley and Sundays' Hill
"Improvements" to Woodhouse Lane, Kings Copse Avenue and Heath House Lane
A "green route" linking Hedge End to Eastleigh
"Regeneration" of parts of Hedge End village centre
"Traffic management" in Hedge End centre
New public open space in the north of Hedge End

The Council's "consultation" runs until 3rd January, although Tuesday is the only date in Hedge End for the exhibition.

More independent commentary on the consultation can be found at Eastleigh News and TGR Worzel's blog.

Something on Your Mind?

2011-11-11T13:28:00.000Z

Have your say on anything that is bugging you about life in Hedge End at the inaugural meeting of the Hedge End Society.

Do you have an idea about how life could be better for everybody in Hedge End, but are not sure about how to make it a reality?

Would you like to talk about it in a relaxed, informal, non-political atmosphere?

The HES is being organised by a group of citizens who want to make things better and realise that if we help each other we are more likely to succeed.

The inaugural meeting will be chaired by Chris Rowberry, the Vicar of St John's and will take place at the Underhill Centre, St John's Rd, starting at 7:30 on Monday 14th November.

Picture credit - Benoit Derrier

Street Pastors and Boundary Changes

2011-11-11T10:56:00.000Z

Alongside the normal business of the Town Council next week, there are two items on the agenda that might be of wider interest.

There will be a presentation by the local Street Pastors on their work in the Hedge End area.

Council will also be considering its response to the Boundary Commission's proposed changes to parliamentary constitiuencies for the 2015 general election. These would split the existing Eastleigh constituency with Hedge End being part of a new constituency stretching from the southern part of West End and Bitterne to Warsash. There is more information about the proposals in this Hedge End Blogger post from September.

Full Council starts at 7:30pm on Wednesday 16th November.

Lib Dem Confusion over Berry Prices

2011-11-10T17:14:00.001Z

New Signs at The Berry

Only a month after Hedge End Town Council agreed to subsidise local community groups who want to hire The Berry Theatre (as reported here), Eastleigh Borough Council's Lib Dem cabinet have bulldozed through a 5% increase in hire charges for both professional and community performances. Normally this price hike would just make it even more difficult, if not impossible, for community organisations to use their local community theatre. In the light of the Town Council's subsidy, however, the effect is that more council tax payers' funds will simply be transferred from Hedge End to Eastleigh.

It is also noteworthy that Cllr Louise Bloom ousted long serving chair Cllr Pearl Hicks in an internal Lib Dem coup to take over control of the Community and Culture Committee in May at the same time as the committee extended its terms of reference to include the Town Council's relationship with The Berry. Cllr Bloom is also, of course, a leading member of the very cabinet which is pushing through these increases even in the face of criticism from the Council's own Resources Scrutiny Panel. She consequently finds herself having been at one meeting where it was agreed the community rates were too expensive for local groups, and another where it was agreed to increase those same rates.

The Town Council is right to support The Berry, particularly in its early years while the theatre struggles in the Con Dem Coalition's age of austerity to get established as the high class arts venue we all want it to become. Eastleigh should surely have followed the Town's lead and frozen prices for the second year of The Berry's operation.

Interestingly, as car park charges are also increased across the Borough (as reported by Eastleigh News here), Eastleigh decided to keep charges for the Hedge End Station car park at their current level. Perhaps this is in recognition that the car park is under-used while commuters still park for free in nearby streets, making it difficult for the Lib Dems to justify their plans to extend the car park on to the adjacent wild flower meadow. (See my post on this subject here)

Following this summer's embarrassment of having the sign outside The Berry obscured by overgrown foliage within two months of the theatre's opening (see picture here) the Council have moved it to a better position. It is good to see them responding to constructive criticism.

Gingerbread House at The Berry

2011-11-03T15:34:00.000Z

Hedge End families are in for a "delicious festive treat" this Christmas with a specially produced version of Hansel and Gretel being performed at The Berry for the two weeks from 12th December.

Professional actors, puppetry and music will combine to give an up to date twist to the traditional story, promised director Sarah Brigham at the official press launch on 1st November.

A creative collaboration with Hiccup Theatre, Peut-Etre and Unpacked theatre companies, the production has already generated an artistic buzz about The Berry which recalls the excitement of its opening back in April. Stand up comics and film screenings might be easy ways to bring in the punters, but just the promise of live theatre brings the building to life.

After a period in the summer when it looked like the Borough Council was neglecting its new theatre, it is also good to see new signs of continuing investment to keep the area around The Berry looking smart. But it was disappointing that only one of Hedge End's 20 Lib Dem Town Councillors accepted the invitation to the press launch. Well done Cllr Jenny Hughes.

A Hedge End family of four can see Hansel and Gretel for £32. The Southampton Mayflower Christmas show would cost between £56 and £108 depending on dates and seats. Add to that the costs of travel to Southampton, parking, and the hassle of avoiding Christmas shoppers and football traffic, and The Berry looks a very attractive proposition.

Keeping Our Library Open

2011-11-02T20:38:00.000Z

Cuts proposed by Conservative Hampshire County Council include reducing the opening hours of many libraries.

For Hedge End this would mean our library would be closed all day Wednesday (it currently opens during the morning). The Town Council discussed these proposals at its October meeting and agreed to work with the County, not just to maintain the existing opening hours, but to extend them, if necessary with the use of volunteers, so that the library is easier to access for people who work.

One of the things I like about the Hampshire library service is that you can go online to browse the catalogue. If you find that the book you are looking for is currently in Basingstoke, for instance, you can request it be sent to Hedge End. You get an email when it arrives and you can pop into the library at your convenience to pick it up (after paying a few pence for the additional service).

It's a simple but effective way of using modern technology to enhance a public service which dates back to Victorian times. Expectations have moved on since 1850 when the Public Libraries Act was passed. Private sector shops used to close for a day or half-day each week, but in 2010 shops need to be open at least six days a week or they risk losing business. The same holds true for libraries.

The library in nearby Chandler's Ford is not being cut because it has better lending figures than Hedge End despite being comparable in terms of population. Closing the Hedge End library on a Wednesday is unlikely to help increase the number of books lent, but the message to Hedge End people is clear. Use it or risk losing it.

You can comment on the County's proposals on their web site.

"If you have a garden and a library, you will want for nothing." (Cicero, 46BC)

Lib Dems "Lied"

2011-10-28T09:25:00.000+01:00

A "weak and self-serving" Conservative opposition has allowed local Lib Dems to bulldoze through a version of the discredited SDA despite their election propaganda stating they would oppose it, according to a letter published in Thursday's Daily Echo.

Steve Sharpe, a resident of Boorley Green, was present at October's council meeting and gives an eye witness account of Council Leader Keith House being in "total control" of the meeting, his party and the council.

Hedge End Town Councillor House is also described as being "smug" and "arrogant" as he used his party's huge majority in the council chamber to force through the latest draft of the Local Plan which will sacrifice huge countryside sites in Hedge End and Botley to the developers.

An unnamed, but clearly independently-minded, councillor stood up against the Lib Dem party machine to claim that the Lib Dems had "repeatedly lied to the electorate about their true intentions.. to secure electoral support", as indeed this blog warned on July 11th and July 14th.

According to the official minutes, six of Hedge End's seven councillors voted with the Lib Dem bulldozer. Cllr Wheatley was not present: perhaps because he is embarrassed by his party's failure to keep its election promises. If that's the case, why not follow the example of Botley's two Lib Dems and turn up and represent the interests of your electorate even if it means voting against the party line?

Most Conscientious Town Councillor

2011-10-23T17:52:00.000+01:00

Newly elected in May 2011, Cllr Margaret Allingham has achieved a 100% attendance record in her first six months as a councillor. According to the published minutes, she has attended not just the six meetings of full council, but all fourteen meetings of the two committees she has joined.

A total of seven councillors have attended all six full council meetings, but Cllr Allingham is the only one to have a 100% record on all committees as well. Cllr Ray Worley has attended 19 out of a total of 20 meetings and is in second place.

Unlike borough and county councillors, town councillors are not paid an allowance, but if they were Margaret and Ray would be giving excellent value for money.

Attendance Record at Full Council May to October 2011

Allingham, Margaret	100%	(6)
Baynes, Sheila	67%	(4)
Bloom, Caitlin	50%	(3)
Bloom, Louise	83%	(5)
Clarke, Daniel	83%	(5)
Corben, Helen	83%	(5)
Day, Keith	100%	(6)
Garton, Cynthia	100%	(6)
Hicks, Pearl	50%	(3)
Houghton, Val	100%	(6)
House, Keith	50%	(3)
Hughes, JennyAnn	67%	(4)
Hughes, Peter	100%	(6)
Humby, David	67%	(4)
Kyrle, Rupert	83%	(5)
Pretty, Derek	100%	(6)
Sthankiya, Shankerlal	50%	(3)
Tennent, Bruce	67%	(4)
Watson, June	50%	(3)
Welsh, Jane	83%	(5)
Worley, Ray	100%	(6)

Combined attendance record at full council and committees

Councillor	Present	Total	Percent
Allingham, Margaret	20	20	100%
Baynes, Sheila	10	14	71%
Bloom, Caitlin	5	9	56%
Bloom, Louise	8	9	89%
Clarke , Daniel	7	9	78%
Corben, Helen	17	19	89%
Day, Keith	14	15	93%
Garton, Cynthia	15	18	83%
Hicks, Pearl	4	9	44%
Houghton, Val	13	15	87%
House, Keith	4	10	40%
Hughes, JennyAnn	7	11	64%
Hughes, Peter	17	20	85%
Humby, David	8	11	73%
Kyrle, Rupert	5	6	83%
Pretty, Derek	11	18	61%
Sthankiya, Shankerlal	12	22	55%
Tennent, Bruce	4	6	67%
Watson, June	8	15	53%
Welsh, Jane	10	15	67%
Worley, Ray	19	20	95%

Committees included are Highways and Planning (9 meetings), Community and Culture (3 meetings), Recreation and Amenities (5 meetings) and Finance and Administration (4 meetings).

Full Council includes Annual General Meeting.

(Photo credit - Hedge End Town Council)

Lib Dem Gravel Pit Tiff

2011-10-22T15:32:00.000+01:00

Disagreements between local Lib Dem County Councillors burst into the open at October's meeting of Hedge End Town Council.

Reporting on Hampshire's recent decision to designate the old airfield at Hamble le Rice for gravel and sand extraction, Hedge End Town Councillor and County Member for West End and Grange Park, Bruce Tennent commented that if Eastleigh Lib Dems want to build nearly 10,000 houses over the next 15 years, the building materials have to come from somewhere.

Fellow Lib Dem heavyweights Louise Bloom and Keith House (County Member for Hamble) tried to get Bruce back on message, stating that the Hamble gravel and sand would not be used for houses, but for roads.

Bruce had the last word, pointing out that presumably the new houses would have to have roads leading to them. (He could also have reminded his colleagues that the Lib Dem proposals include a by-pass for neighbouring Botley, which means additional road building.)

Cllr Helen Corben expressed sympathy for the residents of Hamble, a sentiment I am sure was shared by all Hedge End Town Councillors. But it was strange that so much time was taken at a Hedge End Town Council meeting to discuss matters primarily concerning a nearby parish. Perhaps an indication of where the Lib Dem leadership's priorities lie at the moment.

Friday is Trafalgar Day

2011-10-18T09:05:00.000+01:00

Let's mark this milestone day in Hedge End and have some fun at the same time with traditional English music.

The StGeorgeFest committee is laying on a ceilidh with dancing and live music by Jigfoot and shanty singing led by King John's Morris Men.

No previous experience is necessary.

Celebrations start at 8:00pm, Friday 21st October at the 2000 Centre, St Johns Road. £6 a ticket, £15 for a family.

More details on facebook.

(Picture credit: RedCoat)

What Is The Town Council To Do?

2011-10-18T08:46:00.000+01:00

Planning for the next financial year has started and the Town Council has come up with an initial "wish list" of capital projects for 2012-13. It is not finalised or prioritised and there is no guarantee that everything on the list will be affordable and make it into the budget. It would be good to know what people think about the importance and desirability of these proposals. You can either comment here or email me (hedgeendblogger@gmail.com).

Items on the list at the moment with rough order of magnitude costings are:

Scheduled Maintenance rolling programme for the upkeep of Council properties/boundary fences/infrastructure - £20,000.

To replace the play area of Nelsons Gardens - £50,000.
This is the oldest set of play area equipment in Hedge End and due for replacement.

Sports Walls, Turnpike Sports Field and Greta Park - £15,000.
Informal sports facilities to discourage the use of recently renovated building frontages for football games. (The picture shows one recently installed at Dowd's Farm Park.)

Kanes Field Grazing - £10,000.
Improved fencing and land improvements to enable land earmarked for a new cemetery to be hired out for grazing in the meantime.

Planting and repair of village centre Brick Planters - £5,000.

Heritage sign - £3,000.
Probably to be installed in Lower Northam Road.

To replace the village centre notice board, donated by the late Ms. Violet Cook - £1500.

Paddling Pool seating/picnic tables - £3,000.

Berry Expensive?

2011-10-17T09:19:00.000+01:00

The Berry lived up to its billing as a professional standard theatre at the end of September with an excellent performance of Oh! What a Lovely War by the Blackeyed Theatre Company.

A full house saw the facilities of the theatre and the size of the stage being exploited to entertaining and thought provoking effect. Mr. and Mrs. Hedge End Blogger thought it was worth every penny of the ticket price.

The Berry's use as a community theatre is being encouraged by Hedge End Town Council with a decision this month to offer a 50% subsidy of the hire fee to local groups wishing to use the facility. There is clearly a problem with making this professional standard, fully equipped modern theatre affordable to amateur and community companies who might be more used to paying the going rate for village halls and school assembly halls. So the Community and Culture Committee under its new leadership this year of Cllr Louise Bloom has responded to this. Perhaps Cllr Bloom could use her influence as an Eastleigh Borough Council cabinet member to encourage The Berry to reduce its prices next year for community organisations by 50% and resolve the problem at its source.

Cllr Bloom's committee also decided to invest £2000 to put on a free film and live performance next Spring and another £10000 to support as yet undefined community and school projects.

There is clearly a problem with the theatre's pricing structure, and lessons are surely there to be learned from the first year of operation. It is right that the Town Council is supporting the theatre in its first year as it establishes itself, but an ongoing subsidy from the Town Council to the Borough would be harder to justify.

The Town Council is the most local level of local government and can be the most responsive, but as the higher levels of administration make cuts to balance their books they cannot expect the Town to pick up the pieces every time.

It doesn't help the hard pressed council tax payers of Hedge End if Tory Hampshire and Lib Dem Eastleigh freeze their council tax, but the Town Council precept goes up to to fill the gaps in the services they are no longer providing.

Chris Huhne Promised to Stop the Sprawl

2011-09-27T20:28:00.000+01:00

This screen shot is taken from the web site of Hedge End's MP, Chris Huhne. It shows Chris and Hedge End Town Councillor Tennent promising to fight mass development here. Elsewhere Chris poses with Hedge End Town Councillor Rupert Kyrle, apparently squatting in the same field.

In the light of last week's Hedge End Town Council vote, the words accompanying these images have a hollow ring:

"The Liberal Democrats have always opposed over-development, preferring to find sites for necessary new homes on old industrial land in existing settlements (for example the Pirelli and Causton sites in Eastleigh). By contrast, the Conservatives back Greenfield development when they are in Government, as this is lower cost for the developers. Most of the owners and managers of Britain’s biggest housebuilders –(names removed by Hedge End Blogger)– give money to the Conservative party."

Where green field development is concerned there's not so much contrast between Lib Dems and Conservatives any more.

We have had to get used to Lib Dems at national and local level breaking promises made at election time. It is strange to keep making the promise after it has been broken.

The quoted text and images were still to be seen at http://www.chrishuhne.org.uk/issues/develop on 27th September.

Back on July 20th I emailed Chris.

from Keith Day keithday2010@gmail.com
to Chris Huhne <chris@chrishuhne.org.uk>
date Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 9:23 AM
subject Eastleigh Local Development Framework
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details Jul 20

Dear Chris,
I am sure that you remember supporting the Hedge End Lib Dem candidates in the May council elections with an issue of "The Voice" headlined "Save Our Countryside" and promising to stand up for the Hedge End area against more building and even more traffic (scan attached).

On 14th July the Lib Dems on Eastleigh Borough Council voted to designate countryside in Hedge End a "preferred location for development" and now plan to allow at least 1000 houses on green fields in Hedge End.

You clearly thought that this was wrong in May and promised specifically to stand up against more housing in Hedge End and West End. As our MP will you lend your support to those of your constituents who are opposing the Council's plans for the Hedge End area?

I would like to publish your reply on my blog.

Thanks in advance,
Keith
--
Keith Day
http://hedgeendblogger.blogspot.com/

If I get a reply I will post it here as promised.

Lib Dem Let Down

2011-09-23T16:28:00.000+01:00

For the second time in as many months Hedge End Lib Dems turned down the chance to keep their infamous election promise to "Save Our Countryside" and "Stand Up Against More Building and Traffic".

In July I proposed a motion at Town Council opposing the Borough's plan to designate land at Woodhouse Lane opposite Hillier's garden centre a "preferred development area" and recommending that the sacrifice of countryside and green fields be shared more proportionately across the Borough.

This is important because those fields are the last area of largely unspoiled countryside within the historical boundaries of Hedge End, and no other parish is being asked to give up all its countryside. Combined with the proposed golf course development at Boorley Green, thousands of new houses and flats will generate an unthinkable strain on the local roads and other infrastructure. The proposed preferred development area also includes Bottom Copse, a designated Site of Interest for Nature Conservation for which the Town Council is responsible.

Taking all this into account, I thought that Hedge End Town Councillors might want at least to discuss the merits of the Borough's plan. In July the Lib Dem majority decided to postpone discussion of my motion because they needed more time to understand the proposals. This week it came up again at Wednesday's Town Council meeting.

As soon as the motion was on the table this time, Cllr Keith House stifled any debate on the issues by proposing an amendment which replaced all of my motion (apart from the first four words "Hedge End Town Council") with an anodyne procedural request to wait for the official consultation and for the Council's response to be determined by the Highways and Planning Committee in December.

The full wording of both motions, and details of the vote, are in the official minutes, here on the Council's web site.

The reason I voted against Cllr House's amendment was that as long as there is no opposition, the Borough will be developing their plans based on Hedge End as a preferred development location for 1,000 units. If we want get the plan changed, now is the time to do it, not when the "Consultation" is published. The "Consultation" will include Woodhouse Lane, that has already been decided. Town Council has missed an opportunity to reduce the number of houses proposed there. Residents are already mobilising in Botley and Eastleigh to oppose the level of housing proposed for their areas. Hedge End Lib Dems have missed an opportunity to provide some local leadership.

A mention in dispatches is appropriate for Cllr Sheila Baynes who not only seconded my motion so that it could be debated, but stood next to me in the face of the Lib Dem Borough bulldozer. Thank you Sheila. I hope it does not get you in trouble with the Lib Dem leadership.

"Big Society" - How it Works in Hedge End

2011-09-20T08:28:00.000+01:00

One reason I am sceptical about the Coalition Government's "Big Society" concept is that an awful lot of charities and social enterprises only keep going with regular inputs of cash from local councils at all levels. As the Coalition continues to squeeze council funding, councils will have to reduce their support to these voluntary organisations, and in consequence the voluntary sector will be less able to step up and fill the gaps left elsewhere.

For the moment, however, Hedge End Town Council continues to use powers defined in Section 137 of the Local Government Act to support voluntary organisations active in Hedge End and providing a service to the people of Hedge End.

These grants are authorised by the Community and Culture Committee which this month has agreed to assist:
Hamble Valley and Eastleigh Heritage Guides
Vitalise
Victim Support
Southampton Shopmobility
Hedge End Street Pastors

Hedge End Heritage Sign

2011-09-19T09:50:00.000+01:00

After much discussion over many months, Hedge End Town Council has decided to use a grant it received for a "village feature" to install a heritage sign similar to this artist's representation on the grass verge opposite Kings Community Church in Upper Northam Road.

I felt it would have been more appropriate and appreciated by more people in the village centre near the library, but the Chair of Recreation and Amenities made a strong case for her preferred option and the voting was 6-3 in favour of the chosen location.

Other items discussed at this month's R&A committee included the poor project management by the suppliers of the new skateboard park at Woodhouse Lane. Outlook for completion of this project is now the end of October.

Following an excellent discussion including nearby residents, the Chair of the HEWEB Youth Council and a representative of the supplier company, councillors agreed to move forward with plans to install acoustic fencing to reduce any possible noise nuisance when the skateboard facility is complete and in use.

An informal footpath between Stubbs Drove and Willow Close will be closed off as there has been a long history of late night antisocial behaviour. Unfortunate for those that use it as a handy short cut during the day without causing any nuisance. I abstained on this vote, not because I didn't want to help the people who live there whose lives are being made miserable, but because I felt the Town Council should have worked through the Community Safety Forum to ensure that all the necessary agencies are involved.

Twitter serendipity

2011-09-17T22:54:00.000+01:00

Apologies to Keith and Chris, but sometimes twitter throws up a coincidence that it is impossible not to share....

What's Wrong With This Sign?

2011-09-17T14:20:00.000+01:00

.. Apart from the obvious point that the Dowd's Farm developers installed the street name plate and then put their security fencing so close that it has loosened the footings and pushed the name plate out of the perpendicular, that is...

I quite like the Council's practice of giving us a little history lesson on new street name plates. I particularly like that walking round the Dowd's Farm housing estate you can find two roads a few yards apart, one commemorating Hedge End's first publican, the other Hedge Ends' first Salvation Army officer. It all helps to relieve the tedium of the new urban landscape that has replaced the green fields and rural footpaths of the old farm.

But it's not the Council's job to rewrite history.

The Rev. Payne would have been chairman of Hedge End Parish Council in 1894, and Hedge End would have been a rural parish with a population counted in the hundreds and six parish councillors. Very different from the built up dormitory town it has become.

The First Chair of Hedge End Town Council in 1992 was Councillor John Butcher. Perhaps he will get a street name plate in a hundred years' time.

Bad News For Boorley Green ..

2011-09-16T10:50:00.000+01:00

.. and Hedge End. Despite their election promise to stand against more building and traffic in the Hedge End area, local Lib Dems have decided to push ahead with plans for massive new housing developments at Boorley Green and Woodhouse Lane, Hedge End. Meeting this week the Borough Council cabinet, which includes Hedge End Town Councillors Louise Bloom and Keith House, decided that building at Boorley Green will have "less environmental impact" than a new mini-town at Allington Lane.

Cllr House also dangled the carrot of a much-discussed Botley by-pass to be included in the package, despite there being uncertainty as to whether the already threatened levels of new housing will bring in sufficient developers' contributions to fund the required road expansion.

What is certain is that if the Lib Dems have their way, Hedge End is destined for more traffic, more strain on the local infrastructure and less countryside for peaceful, informal recreation.

Hedge End Town Council will have the opportunity to debate the Lib Dem housing plans in public next Wednesday when my motion opposing the plans (which the Lib Dems refused to discuss in July) will once more be on the agenda.

The Borough Council's press release is here.

Chris Huhne and the Constituency Carve Up

2011-09-14T09:11:00.000+01:00

Hedge End and Eastleigh bloggers were not slow to comment on the initial recommendations for new constituency boundaries published yesterday.

TGRWorzel's elegantly composed offering is here.

Eastleigh News' well researched article is here.

My own effort is here.

TGRWorzel gets the Hedge End Blogger award for best blog post title on the subject: "It's Eastleigh Chris, but not as we know it".

Today's Guardian Newspaper has an excellent Steve Bell cartoon. Based on this famous Gillray caricature of William Pitt and Napoleon carving up the globe between Britain and France in 1805, it sums up the national situation with interesting resonances for MPs such as Chris Huhne, who are seeing their own constituencies carved up.

Here is a link.

What a Waste of Money

2011-09-13T10:43:00.000+01:00

£13000 was spent by Eastleigh Lib Dems on their flawed housing "opinion survey". Despite delivering their glossy leaflet with photos of a smiling "perfect" family and a message from smiling Lib Dem leader and Hedge End Councillor Keith House to all 53,000 households in the Borough, only 1786 valid replies were received.

A staggering 97% of residents treated this ill-judged exercise in political opportunism and buck passing with the contempt it deserved and have refused to give any kind of mandate to the Lib Dem plans for two huge development areas in and around Hedge End.

The challenge has been laid down to Cllr House now to engage in a genuine, bottom-up consultation to allow the people to have a real say in the future of Eastleigh's countryside.

Amazingly people living near Allington Lane would prefer development to take place in Boorley Green, and Boorley Green residents voted mainly for houses to be built in Allington Lane. Overall there was a small majority in favour of Boorley Green, but the response is so tiny the Lib Dems would look ridiculous if they used the figures to justify their plans.

864 (48.37%) of respondents gave option A (Allington Lane) as their preferred choice for development.
922 (51.62%) of respondents gave option B (Boorley Green) as their preferred choice for development.
In total 58 more respondents opted for Boorley Green than Allington Lane.

Hedge End and Hamble To Get Own MP

2011-09-13T00:04:00.000+01:00

Hedge End and Hamble will become a parliamentary constituency for the 2015 general election if the Boundary Commission's initial recommendations survive twelve weeks of public consultation and party political lobbying.

New boundaries are intended to make voting at general elections fairer by equalising the number of voters in each constituency and will reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

Changes to neighbouring constituencies to bring them in line with the new one-size-fits-all proposals mean that the existing Eastleigh Constituency extends further to the North (taking in parts of Test Valley) and some of its southern wards join parts of Fareham and Southampton in the new Hedge End and Hamble Borough Constituency.

Any organisation of smaller towns and parishes into a larger entity is going to seem arbitrary to some extent, but I can't see the good people of Bitterne in Southampton being particularly happy at being hived off from Southampton Itchen into the new constituency. Some of us are old enough to remember when Woolston was tagged on to Eastleigh for a couple of general elections and was returned to Southampton as soon as was possible. It seems the Boundary Commission does not learn from its past mistakes.

Hedge End and Hamble Borough Constituency will comprise:

Bitterne
Botley
Bursledon and Old Netley
Hamble-le-Rice and Butlocks Heath
Hedge End (all three existing wards)
Netley Abbey
West End South (but not West End North, which is staying in Eastleigh)
Locks Heath
Park Gate
Sarisbury
Titchfield Common
Warsash

The political parties will now be poring over past election results in these wards and others affected by the changes to work out whether the proposals are to their advantage or not.

Apart from the anomalies of Bitterne and West End, the linking of Hedge End to Warsash and Sarisbury is no more or less logical than linking it to Bishopstoke and Fair Oak, but the old Eastleigh Constituency had the advantage of including - more or less - the same wards as Eastleigh Borough Council. Where there is no community or historical tie, and no geographical feature to provide a natural boundary, at least there was a measure of consistency. That consistency is lost in the new constituency which takes wards from a total of three local councils - Southampton, Eastleigh and Fareham.

Based on recent local election results, it also looks like being a keenly fought Lib Dem / Conservative marginal with the Fareham wards bringing Conservative majorities up against the Lib Dem heartland of Hedge End and Botley.

Photo credit: Tony Moorey

Neglecting Our Heritage

2011-09-05T09:05:00.000+01:00

Another winter of neglect awaits a grade two listed building in Hedge End. Delapidated and vandalised in the ten years it has been unoccupied, one of Hedge End's few historic buildings looks destined to wait even longer for renovation. There is no sign that the Dowd's Farm developers are going to start plans to renovate and restore the fabric of the old farmhouse and there must be a risk that it will continue to deteriorate until demolition is the only economic option. A report to Council in April this year estimated that it would already cost £1 million to restore the farmhouse. Another winter with rain and snow driving into the clearly visible exposed holes in the brickwork is only going to increase the bill.

The farmhouse dates back to the 17th century with Victorian extensions and historically interesting internal features including a bread oven and floor to ceiling sash windows. But more importantly it is a material reminder of Hedge End's agricultural history. If it goes, only the name of the housing estate and urban park will recall that there once was a farm on this land.

Back in the Spring, the outlook for this threatened building was more optimistic. Lib Dem councillors approved planning applications for an additional 30 flats at Dowd's Farm so that the developers could raise more money to fund the renovation and for a change of use for the farmhouse itself. In April we were told that the Council was in discussions with a company which wanted to renovate the building and run it as a day nursery and that a detailed planning application would be presented in May.

Since then silence. No planning application was on the agenda of the June Local Area Committee, and the Lib Dems have now decided to cancel the meeting due on September 5th. So nothing is going to happen now until November at the earliest.

Town Council Update

2011-08-30T11:06:00.000+01:00

August has been a quiet month for the town council, with only two committees meeting. The interesting bit of Highways and Planning was the discussion of The Lib Dem plans to build on Hedge End's last area of unspoilt countryside which I have already tried to cover on this blog without contravening Cllr House's secrecy order.

The other committee that has continued to meet is Recreation and Amenities (R&A) under the chairmanship of Cllr Jane Welsh.

We had a normal evening meeting on 10th and then, following concerns raised by people living near the Woodhouse Lane playing field, a number of us had a Saturday morning on site meeting with some residents and a fencing consultant to discuss ways of reducing the impact of noise likely to be generated by the new skateboard park currently under construction.

This project has been discussed at various meetings since last autumn and details are on the Town Council web site.

The Older People's Forum has requested that instructions be provided for the Sports Point exercise equipment in the Recreation Ground, and the council is negotiating with the supplier.

Tennis fans will be interested to know that an LTA competition organiser is looking at staging a competition at the Woodhouse Lane courts.

The committee is working with Hedge End Junior Cricket Club to improve the practice nets at Turnpike Way and is also looking at a suitable gate for the entrance to the field from Thistle Road.

We also considered a number of letters of complaint arising from the barriers and dugouts that have been installed by Hedge End Rangers FC at the Norman Rodaway field to bring the facilities up to Hampshire League standard.

The official minutes of the meeting are on the Town Council web site.

Keeping Hedge End Tidy

2011-08-25T10:46:00.000+01:00

A pile of garden waste was dumped on a grass verge in Parkwood Close at the beginning of summer. Eastleigh Borough Council - who have been mowing the verge for as long as anyone can remember - started steering their mowers around the obstacle so that grass started growing up through the debris.

Local residents reported the fly-tipping to Eastleigh but were amazed to learn that according to the official maps this verge did not belong to the Council, nor was it designated highway land. The Council don't clear fly-tipping from private land even if they are happy to cut the grass there.

Asked by the neighbourhood watch co-ordinator if the Town Council could help, I spoke first to the Streetscene department at Eastleigh and had a long discussion about cuts, funding, redundancies, boundaries, and precedents. Eventually it transpired that Streetscene management would agree to clear this fly-tipping if they could cross charge the work to the HEWEB(*) Local Area Committee. The Local Area Coordinator agreed that maintaining the tidiness of the local environment is more important than squabbling over who owns the land and within a few days the rubbish was cleared.

So it's well done to the responsive HEWEB LAC, but a shame that we probably spent more time arguing over whether the work should be done than it took to drive a vehicle onto the verge and shovel the rubbish away.

(*) Hedge End, West End and Botley

Housing - Plan B

2011-08-24T23:13:00.000+01:00

A view of new housing development at Dowd's Farm

"If we don't accept this plan, it will be a developers' free for all and no green field will be safe from development." Such was part of the argument used by the local Lib Dem leadership in bulldozing through their housing plans to impose at least 2,400 and possibly up to 6,000 new houses on green fields in the Hedge End, West End and Botley local area.

But the Lib Dems are guilty of presenting a false dilemma. The choice is not between their plan and no plan. The choice is between a bad plan and a better plan.

What makes the current proposals a bad plan is the inexplicable u-turn executed by the Lib Dems in adopting a small number of large scale "strategic development options" when they have campaigned against Strategic Development Areas and Major Development Areas in the past.

The impact of new housing on the existing infrastructure (roads, services, schools etc.) would be less invasive if the the new developments were spread more evenly throughout the borough instead of being concentrated in three locations. It would also give existing communities and settlements the chance to grow organically without fundamentally changing their character, a fate which is possibly awaiting Boorley Green.
Let us accept for the moment the Council's target of 9,400 new houses and their assessment that 4,700 of these will have to be built on countryside locations.

They could reach their target by assigning 1,200 of the green field houses to sites near the urban centre of Eastleigh Town and Chandlers Ford and then distributing the remainder evenly throughout the nine southern parishes at the rate of about 400 per parish.

They could then engage in a more meaningful consultation in each parish allowing the local people to rank the identified locations in order of preference. People in Hedge End might still vote in favour of building on the farmland at Woodhouse Lane, or they might prefer one of the other sites identified by the planners. If the first choice does not have sufficient capacity to accommodate the 400 target houses, then the second or third choice locations would be added to the list until the required capacity is reached.

It might mean more work for the planners and a harder time for the developers, but it would be fairer and more democratic for the people of Hedge End.

New Job for Cllr Keith House

2011-08-24T21:37:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Hedge End Town Councillor, Bursledon Parish Councillor, Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council and Leader of the Lib Dem Group on Hampshire County Council, Keith House on landing another job.

The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors announced on Monday that he has been elected Lead Lib Dem Member of the Local Government Association's Environment and Housing Programme Board.

I thought I'd have a browse of the LGA's web site to see what this new role entails:

Programme board members

Accountabilities
To actively engage with councils and groupings of councils to secure the views and involvement of the wider membership to inform the board’s priorities and policy lines and act as an advocate for the LG Group and its work.

To attend and actively participate in programme board meetings

To attend conferences and other events initiated by the programme board.

To read and understand all board papers in advance of the meeting, and to keep abreast of all developments locally and nationally in relation to the areas covered by the programme board.

Where required, to take responsibility for a specified portfolio and act as spokesperson

Knowledge and Experience

Programme board members may be portfolio holders for that policy area in their home authorities or have experience/knowledge of, and commitment to, the policy area(s) covered by the programme board.

Travel and expenses

This role will require attendances at meetings in London and in other parts of the country.
Travel and subsistence costs incurred in attending programme boards meetings should be met by the member’s home authority.

Remuneration
Current programme board members’ allowance: £2,593
Expected time commitment: up to 0.5 days per week

Lib Dems Keep Hedge End in the Dark

2011-08-18T09:30:00.000+01:00

Lib Dems did not want members of the public at the Town Council meeting to discuss the new housing plans for Hedge End. As I blogged on 1st August, the discussion was deemed to be exempt business under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 after Council Leader Keith House decreed that any briefing by council officials had to be confidential, and that section of the meeting was not recorded in the official minutes.

It's a pity, because I thought I asked some pretty pertinent questions:

Q. It is clear that 1,000 houses at Woodhouse Lane and possibly 1,400 at Boorley Green will put unsustainable strain on the Maypole Roundabout and roads to the M27. Will the planned housing bring in sufficient developers' contributions to improve those roads, or will Hedge End be asked to accept even more housing in order to generate funds for the increased road capacity?

A. #### CENSORED BY LIB DEMS ####

Q. People moving into the new housing at Hedge End will need somewhere to work. If 1,000 houses are built on our green fields, will Hedge End have to sacrifice even more countryside for employment purposes?

A. #### CENSORED BY LIB DEMS ####

Q. In addition to the three major strategic sites, Eastleigh is looking to build 1,000 more houses across the whole borough on "small" green field sites. In the interest of fairness, why should any of these 1,000 additional houses be targeted on the Hedge End, West End and Botley area, which is already going to take 2,400?

A. #### CENSORED BY LIB DEMS ####

Q. In the Strategic Land Availability Assessment, all the sites in Hedge End which are close to the motorway are considered inappropriate for housing. Yet in neighbouring West End, the Council has permitted housing right up to the motorway with approprate noise mitigation. Why do different standards apply?

A. #### CENSORED BY LIB DEMS ####

Next time Lib Dem candidates come knocking on your door, see if you can get an answer from them.

Hedge End Bursting its Boundaries

2011-08-15T09:57:00.001+01:00

Beautiful countryside between Hedge End and Botley is threatened by the Lib Dems housing plans.

Eastleigh Council's map of "small greenfield sites" in Hedge End shows a number of locations to the east of Hedge End in the local gap between Hedge End and Botley (labelled HE6 to HE11) which have been designated possible development targets.

Although the Lib Dems voted in July to accept these as Hedge End locations, they are technically the other side of the administrative border between Hedge End and Botley parish. Presumably the Council planners know where the boundary is, so why did they not categorise them as Botley locations?

The same thing has happened on the other side of Hedge End where green fields to the north and west of Hedge End which are technically in West End are in the Hedge End allocation. (See previous blog entries here and here.)

And to the south, a number of green fields in the Bursledon parish area are counted as Hedge End sites.

In fact, if I have done the calculations correctly, only thirteen of the 31 identified Hedge End sites are actually inside the Hedge End administrative boundary, and only 34% (3799 out of 11185) of the potential housing slots assessed are formally in Hedge End.

In real life the administrative boundaries between parishes are a fairly insignificant planning technicality. So why has the Council misled people in this way?

One possibility is that by exaggerating how many green fields there are in Hedge End it makes it look as if we can "afford" to accept a thousand houses at Woodhouse Lane because there is still plenty of green space left.

But the fact is that under the developer-friendly Lib Dems the settlement of Hedge End has already expanded up to, and in some cases over, its administrative borders with neighbouring parishes and the Woodhouse Lane location is the last area of countryside inside Hedge End's borders.

Library to Charge Youngsters

2011-08-13T10:08:00.000+01:00

Fining pre-school children is a bad idea according to local Hedge End councillor, and leader of the Lib Dem opposition at Hampshire County Council, Keith House.

Commenting on Hampshire Conservatives' plan to charge children for the late return of library books Cllr House revealed an alarming statistic.

“Charging late fees for children is a reading tax. This all covers up the more amazing fact that the county has lost 30,000 books in recent years. The council should concentrate on tracking down these rather than discouraging children reading."

Perhaps a well-publicised amnesty would encourage adults to return some of those 30,000 books rather than putting more pressure on families already struggling with reduced income and higher prices for everything from food to electricity.

Read the full story here.

Glorious Twelfth - Special Offer at The Berry

2011-08-10T14:16:00.000+01:00

This Friday, 12th August, The Berry are showing "Cedar Rapids", and have announced a special price to celebrate the announcement of their new season. So, while some might be trecking off to the grouse moors for the annual bird massacres, Hedge Enders can make a much shorter trip to our local theatre and see this recent comedy release for a mere £2.

Norman Rodaway Playing Fields Threat

2011-08-09T21:10:00.000+01:00

Local Lib Dems have voted to make these popular playing fields a target for developers.

The Lib Dems nationally are in a developer-friendly coalition with the Conservatives which threatens our green spaces and countryside with more and more development. The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England is among many groups and organisations that have seen the truth behind the government’s planning consultation.

And the Lib Dems locally are going along with the national policy to put development ahead of the protection of the environment by designating just about every green space in and around Hedge End as a possible target for the developers.

Amazingly this includes not just farmland but our parks and recreation grounds too.

“Small green field site” HE12 (Land East of Heath House Lane and South of Kings Copse Avenue) is better known as the Norman Rodaway Playing Field.

Despite it being the home of local organisations including Hedge End Rangers FC, Smiles Pre-School and 31^st Itchen Scouts, and a favourite place for informal exercise and dog walkers, the Council reckon that up to 180 houses and flats could be built there. Or it could be developed for employment purposes.

The Lib Dems haven’t completed their master plan to concrete over Hedge End yet, but I am worried that one of their justifications for building at Woodhouse Lane (despite their election promises to fight against building on County Council land) is that they can get the developers to provide “new playing fields for the community”.

Does Cllr Keith House want to provide these new playing fields in the north-east of Hedge End so that he can then force the current users of Norman Rodaway to relocate and free up even more land for housing? He must admit that the Council has previous form when it comes to evicting leisure users who have invested years in a much loved location – just ask the Eastleigh Allotment Association.

We might think that the Norman Rodaway is safe because it is owned and managed by Hedge End Town Council, but the national Lib Dems in coalition with the Conservatives are telling local councils to sell their leisure assets to “save money”

If we put all these national and local policies together, things are not looking good for Norman Rodaway.

Things are looking even worse when we look more closely at the minutes of Hedge End Town Council in February. The Recreation and Amenities Committee had resolved that Council should apply to preserve the Norman Rodaway Sports Field as a recreation ground in perpetuity under a covenant which would have seen it designated a Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Playing Field. Decisions of committees can be referred to full council at the request of an individual councillor, which is what Cllr House did on this occasion. At full council he talked his fellow Lib Dems out of protecting the Norman Rodaway field in this way and instead diverted the protection to the Dowd's Farm Park.

9. To consider the following Resolution under Standing Order 34 (b)
Referred Cllr. Keith House
a) Recreation & Amenities 9 February 2011
Minute R55
That the Town Council make application for
the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge
Non-Charitable
Deed of Declaration for the sites of Norman Rodaway
Sports Field and Turnpike Way Sports Field.
Cllr. Keith House introduced this Motion expressing his concern
and reservations that by applying covenant restrictions on the
lands in question will make it very difficult for the Town Council
in the future to manage the land to its own advantage and
believed that the Town Council should not defer control to third
parties. He felt that it was more appropriate to designate Dowd s
Farm as ultimately the Town Council will never own the land
freehold but under a lease agreement with the Salvation Army.
Cllr. Keith House Proposed an Amendment to the Resolution,
Seconded by Cllr. Peter Hughes to read:
That the Town Council make application for the Queen
Elizabeth II Fields Challenge
Non-Charitable Deed of
Declaration for the site of Dowd s Farm.
13 For, 2 Against, 1 Abstention. AMENDMENT CARRIED.

Did Cllr House as far back as February have plans ultimately to sell the Norman Rodaway for development?

Marking Trafalgar Day in Hedge End

2011-08-09T13:50:00.001+01:00

photo credit: Computerjoe

Celebrating our history, tradition and community spirit is the ethos behind the Hedge End St George Fest.

The committee, with support from the Town and Borough Councils and individual County Councillors, has organised various events in Hedge End around St George's Day and Christmas for the last three years, and at last night's meeting it agreed to continue this autumn with a barn dance to celebrate Trafalgar Day.

There will be traditional music, grog and hard tack, and a prize for the best nautical costume.

Look out for more publicity as the nights draw in and 21st October approaches.

There will also be at least one concert of traditional music nearer Christmas.

Opinion Surveys - The Truth

2011-08-08T23:25:00.000+01:00

TGR Worzel and Hedge End Blogger have both recently discussed the current opinion survey / consultation being undertaken by Eastleigh Borough Council.

TGR Worzel post here.

Hedge End Blogger post here.

Coincidentally the LibDem Voice blog recently provided a link to a Yes Minister clip on youtube which seems pertinent.

Yes Minister on Youtube

Surely we are not being manipulated by local government?

Secretive Lib Dems Threat to Hedge End Heritage

2011-08-08T09:10:00.000+01:00

Botleigh Grange is a historical jewel in Hedge End's architectural crown, yet local Lib Dems voted in July to include the parkland (currently with grazing highland cattle) between the hotel and Grange Road as a possible location for development.

According to the Council, up to 135 houses or flats could be built on the last remnants of the historic deer park, completely obscuring the view of the historic house and destroying its character. This, despite the parkland and the trees on the site being protected by existing legislation.

The Lib Dems say they need to find sites for a thousand more houses (in addition to those included in the current opinion survey) but have decreed that discussions about them be closed to the public and kept secret until they have decided which additional green fields will be sacrificed to development.

With the Conservative / Lib Dem coalition deciding that "sustainable" development is more important than protecting the environment according to a recently published consultation, things look bad for our green fields.

There is a tradition that Oliver Cromwell stayed at Botleigh Grange in the seventeenth century. Perhaps we need some of his spirit to save Hedge End's green spaces in the twenty-first!

These green fields are labelled HE5 on the Council's map of "small greenfield sites".

More Green Fields Threatened in U-Turn by Secretive Lib Dems

2011-08-04T10:21:00.000+01:00

Massive new development on green fields between Tollbar Way and Bubb Lane is being considered since local Lib Dems voted to accept Eastleigh Borough Council's Strategic Land Availability Assessment in July.

Only four years ago, the Lib Dems said that the strategic gap between Hedge End and West End was so vital that they turned down the Wessex Vale Crematorium at Bubb Lane (it went on to be built because their decision was overturned on appeal). Now they are willing to consider a massive expansion of the Berrywood Business Village and up to 700 houses on the countryside in the very same strategic gap. And this would be in addition to the one thousand houses already planned for Woodhouse Lane.

All this is already in the public domain - Eastleigh have published all the threatened sites on their web site and drawn attention to them in their "Help shape the future of your borough Have your say!" leaflet.

Hedge End Blogger is bursting to tell you the latest thinking on how the Local Development Framework will affect Hedge End, but the Lib Dem leadership decreed that Wednesday's briefing for town councillors be held in secret as "exempt business". Members of the public and press were excluded from the meeting and no minutes or report will be published. As an independent member of Hedge End Town Council, I cannot abuse my privilege of attending the briefing, so I am in effect being censored by the party that claims to "involve people in decisions".

If I understand Cllr House's diktat correctly we will be allowed to talk and blog about the content of this week's meeting once specific options have been presented to Eastleigh Borough Council (ie after the decision has effectively been made).

A few local Lib Dem stalwarts did turn up for the meeting. Cllr Cynthia Garton, Cllr Margaret Allingham, Cllr Helen Corben, Cllr June Watson, Cllr Peter Hughes and Cllr Ray Worley were all there and asked some pertinent questions and made some telling points about local infrastructure and services being swamped by more housing.

I don't want to criticise individual councillors because it is the start of the holiday season and anybody can have a reason for missing a particular meeting, but six out of twenty is a very small turnout.

It's doubly strange because in July all the Lib Dems voted to postpone discussion by the Town Council of the Borough's housing plans until after they had had the chance to hear this briefing, but then fourteen of them didn't even turn up to hear it.

In May the Lib Dems said they would "stand up against building and even more traffic in our area". I just wonder when they are going to start.

The threatened fields are labelled HE2,HE3 and HE4 on the Council's map.

Lib Dem Housing Survey is Unfair and Undemocratic

2011-08-03T08:56:00.000+01:00

A flawed opinion survey is being undertaken by Eastleigh Borough Council at a cost to the tax payer of £13,000. A glossy leaflet "Help shape the future of your borough Have your say!" is being delivered to every household in the Borough.

The survey is unfair because it does not ask a fair question. Both options (Allington Lane or Boorley Green) imply support for the Council's "preferred locations" at Woodhouse Lane Hedge End and to the south of Eastleigh. Surely it occurred to them that some people (most notably those who already live in Hedge End or south Eastleigh) might have something to say about the impact to their roads, infrastructure and other services of concentrating a thousand new houses in these green field locations. Whether that was the intention or not, the result is what looks like a cynical exercise which will allow the Lib Dems to claim that x thousand Eastleigh residents voted in favour of building on the green fields at Woodhouse Lane.

The second problem is that voting for either option implies acceptance of two assumptions which underpin the Lib Dem plans. One assumption is that nearly ten thousand new houses will be required in the Borough in the next ten to fifteen years. The other is that the majority of the nearly five thousand new houses on green fields must be concentrated in three "strategic" locations.

The Council would have us believe that ten thousand houses are needed just to accommodate the projected growth in Eastleigh's current population. But the population in Hedge End has not grown organically. It has been development led. Developers have built houses and people have moved here because of the communication links and the previously thriving economy in the south east. The fact is if we build more houses we just encourage more people to move here from elsewhere. (I will declare an interest here as we moved here from Southampton in 1984.)

The second assumption - that the majority of green field houses should be concentrated in three strategic locations - is presented with no evidence or justification. The Council's own Strategic Land Availability Assessment shows that there is scope to distribute those houses more widely in the Borough. A larger number of small to medium sites will also spread the infrastructure load.

Instead of 3,700 houses on three locations and the remaining 1,000 spread throughout the Borough, a workable distribution would be 1,200 in Eastleigh and 400 in each of the nine southern parishes. These numbers can easily be accommodated in locations already identified by the Council. This suggestion will also allow existing communities to grow in a more organic manner without the disproportionate impact of another Dowd's Farm development on Hedge End's few remaining green fields.

The survey is undemocratic because of problems with the mechanics of the survey process. It is good that a reasonably eye-catching leaflet has been or will be delivered to every house in the Borough (unlike the consultation on an elected mayor for Eastleigh that was hidden in an obscure corner of the Council web site and hardly publicised at all). Although there is no freepost facility for returning the form, the option is there to complete the survey online, or to take the paper leaflet to the Hedge End Town Council offices for collection.

But why has the democratic principle of one person one vote been abandoned in favour of one vote per household? This is a lurch back to the dark days when only landowners had the right to vote. This anachronism will tend to disenfranchise women and young people (we wouldn't want young people to express a view on the future of their Borough, would we?). It also ignores the views of those who do not currently have a house (the Council figure is that there are 5000 families waiting for a house in Eastleigh).

And why will anonymous returns be ignored? The secret ballot is a cornerstone of our democracy, but this survey will only be valid with a name and address attached. It seems that after the embarrassment of the AV "fairer votes" referendum, the Lib Dems are forgetting the very principles of democracy.

Despite my misgivings I do hope that a large number of surveys are returned. A poor turn out will make it easier for the Council to claim in future that consultations are not worth the money (this one is costing £13,000) and make decisions without input from the people.

Every household in Hedge End will have to decide how they respond to this exercise. In case you are wondering, we had a little family meeting in the Hedge End Blogger household and have come up with a consensus as to how to respond. We will vote for neither option A nor option B and will try to explain why in the pitifully small space for comments, but the bottom line is - we don't want to see huge tracts of green fields disappearing under more concrete and even more traffic on our already overcrowded roads.

In short, we agree with what the Lib Dems said they would do before the Borough elections in May, not with what they have done since being elected.

Chris Huhne - It's a Dog's Life

2011-08-02T09:09:00.000+01:00

Our local MP turned up in his constituency at the end of last week for a photo opportunity at the Blue Cross Animal Adoption Centre on the outskirts of Hedge End, as reported on his own web site and by The Echo.

Now I think it is fair to say that Chris has a lot on his plate at the moment, so it was good to see that he found the time to publicise the very real problems that dog, and other animal, rehoming charities are facing.

Even before the Coalition started to grind the economy to a standstill, these rehoming centres were taking in more unwanted dogs than they could place in new homes. It is a depressing and little publicised fact that thousands of healthy dogs are killed every year in the UK because there are simply not enough homes for them. Meanwhile puppy farms and private breeders continue to try to make a buck from mugs who are willing to hand over ridiculous sums of money for the latest fashionable breed or cross.

So, respect to our MP for giving the problem some publicity. It’s just a shame that the government appears to be going down the path of making life harder for all dog owners and is ignoring the issue of uncontrolled breeding which lies at the root of the problem.

It’s also a shame that the Lib Dems on Eastleigh Council voted in July to designate the Blue Cross site and the surrounding green fields a possible location for housing or industrial development. It seems our councillors don't care too much about the 100-year history of the Blue Cross, or the 24 local jobs it provides, or the investment the charity has made in its facilities at Bubb Lane. According to the Council's Strategic Land Availability Assessment , there is the potential for up to 1380 houses there. Where will the unwanted dogs go then?

(Jack, in the photo, is an alumnus of the RSPCA Ark at Stubbington, but agreed to the picture being published to express his solidarity with all canine comrades looking for a new home.)

Link to Blue Cross

Link to Stubbington Ark

Lib Dems' Secret Consultation

2011-08-01T11:18:00.001+01:00

More green fields are under threat in Hedge End as Lib Dems insist the public are to be excluded from a Town Council briefing by Eastleigh Borough Council. This despite their election claim to "involve people in decisions" and "we value YOUR views".

After the bombshell that fields at Woodhouse Lane are going to be designated a "preferred location" for housing, despite the Lib Dems' specific promise to campaign against housing on County Council owned land in the area (reported here.), and their sham consultation, which does not allow people in Hedge End to express their views on the Woodhouse Lane plans (see the leaflet here.), there now comes the shock that the party that used to stand up for open democracy and against excessive secrecy is breaking a commitment made at the last Town Council to have the next stage of discussions at a normal meeting, open to the public.

I had a motion at that meeting which would have called on the Town Council to oppose the Woodhouse Lane proposals, and also to hold all future meetings on the subject in public. As you can see from the minutes (here), the Lib Dems decided to postpone this discussion until September, after a briefing by Eastleigh to the Highways and Planning Committee in August.

When the agenda for this Wednesday's Highways and Planning Committee was first distributed the discussion on the Local Development Framework was, indeed, scheduled to take place at 6:30 as the first item of business (the council normally deals with items of public interest at the beginning of the agenda so that people do not have to sit through the boring bits of the meeting waiting for the juicy stuff).

Within hours, though, the Lib Dem leadership had bulldozed through the agenda and the amended version (published on the council web site here) puts the item as the last thing on the agenda, after a motion to exclude members of the public and press.

So much for open democracy, so much for involving local people in decisions. It looks like all they want the public to do is rubber stamp decisions made by the Lib Dems behind closed doors.

Thinking outside the Box

2011-07-29T23:46:00.000+01:00

As Hampshire Tories confirm swingeing cuts in youth services, The Box Youth Centre in Wildern Lane is under threat of closure.

Wildern local councillor (and leader of the Lib Dems at county hall) Keith House told The Hampshire Chronicle:

“Residents seeing services slashed, from children's centres and youth services to the cutbacks in buses and bus passes, will be appalled that Hampshire's Conservatives are stashing more and more of council taxpayers’ money into the county bank.

"We said earlier in the year this was a cynical exercise to store up money for election year in 2013. The new figures prove our point. The Conservatives' twisted priorities are a disgrace."

Meanwhile a steering group has been set up with the intention of keeping The Box open. Consisting primarily of Hedge End Town Councillors and members of Botley and West End Parish Councils the group will work with Wildern School and other interested parties.

Amazingly Hampshire County Council have not confirmed that they will be willing to transfer ownership of The Box if other bodies come forward to keep it running.

A meeting at The Box on 18th July heard evidence from the local police and health professionals that the sort of service provided there helps to keep levels of antisocial behaviour, drug use and unwanted pregnancies below what would be expected in an area with a relatively high population of young people.

Public service cuts such as these and those being made by the Coalition at a national level are short sighted because the cost of not providing the service is never taken into account in the calculations.

Travellers at Dowds' Farm Park

2011-07-28T22:38:00.000+01:00

All the correct bodies seem to be aware of the presence of travellers at Dowd's Farm Park.

Here is a link to a joint communication being distributed to nearby residents.

Berry Funny

2011-07-26T11:02:00.000+01:00

Hedge Enders need something to cheer us up as the Coalition grinds the economy to a standstill and local Lib Dems contrive to cover even more of our green fields with concrete and tarmac. Step forward the Berry Theatre.

Clearly keen to build on the success of stand up visitors Jeremy Hardy and Ross Noble (and friends) in selling out the 300-seat venue, our local theatre has recently announced national names Rory Bremner, Shappi Khorsandi and Tony Hawks to appear in November and December.

Younger children and their families will be catered for with a whole week of "Hansel and Gretel" performances in December.

Following my harsh words about the huge gaps in the "theatre" strand for adults between April and the end of September, it is good to see that Forest Forge will be coming back in October with a performance celebrating the New Forest "The World Outside".

Unfortunately there is then another dearth of drama for three months, before they hit us with three productions in February. "Stalin's Favourite" and "Defying Hitler", elements of Theatre Unlimited's "Living History" project, are described in the company's own words: "Both the subject matter and the source material makes the plays of interest to a much wider public, attracting a genuinely mixed audience of school groups, university students, as well as interested and informed members of the general public, generating a foment of ideas and reactions."

Eastleigh's The Point Youth Theatre are then in residence for six performances of "Romeo and Juliet" before the Berry's own youth theatre feature in "Strawberries and Steam" in March.

The current programming ends with an adaptation of "Great Expectations" at the end of March. Perhaps a hint of great things to come as the theatre starts its second year?

There are a number of productions there that look interesting enough for the Hedge End Blogger wallet to be opened, and I hope that other Hedge Enders will feel the same way. "Use it or Lose it" seems to be the way with so many facilities we used to take for granted. I still think it is amazing that we have a professional theatre right on our doorsteps and with imaginative programming, efficient management and the support of the local community I'd like to think it can grow into a genuine cultural asset.

Full details of the new season (including some stuff I have not mentioned in this post) are on The Berry's web site.

Another Broken Lib Dem Promise

2011-07-18T09:05:00.000+01:00

;

This is what Hedge End Lib Dems said in May:

"The Liberal Democrats have worked hard for our area. They will continue to fight any plans from Hampshire County Council to sell off green fields for massive housing development locally"

What did they do in July? They voted to designate the green fields at Woodhouse Lane "a preferred strategic development location", opening the floodgates for hundreds of houses to be built there.

And who is the landowner who will profit from the sale of Hedge End's countryside? None other than Hampshire County Council who seem to have gone from enemy to development partner in just two months.

Whatever happened to the Lib Dems who kept their campaign promises? Are they going down the same path as their national leaders?

Nick Clegg on broken promises

Lib Dem Stay Away Shame Continues

2011-07-15T09:22:00.000+01:00


Threatened countryside at Woodhouse Lane

Back in April Hedge End Blogger pointed out (here) that Lib Dem Borough Councillors (who get a generous taxpayer funded allowance on the expectation that they will actually turn up and represent the people who voted for them) seemed to have stopped attending council meetings.

At the time I thought it was because they were following party orders to deliver more and more of their repetitive campaign leaflets (which seem to have been full of promises they knew they were not going to keep) in their desperate battle to buck the national trend and keep control of Eastleigh.

But the trend continues after the election. Of the three Lib Dems elected in Hedge End this year, not one, not a single one, was at the council meeting on Thursday when the decision was made to designate the countryside opposite Hilliers Garden Centre in Woodhouse Lane a “preferred location” for large scale development, and rubber-stamping a document which states up to 2320 houses could be built there.

In fact out of seven Borough Councillors, only three Hedge End members were there.

Cllrs Jenny Ann Hughes, Cllr Derek Pretty, Cllr Mick Wheatley, and Cllr Jane Welsh were all absent.

Cllr Keith House proposed the motion, spoke twice in favour and voted for. Cllr Louise Bloom spoke in favour and voted for. Cllr Peter Hughes did not speak and voted for.

Local Lib Dems Misled Voters (2)

2011-07-14T23:01:00.001+01:00

Countryside at Woodhouse Lane is a “preferred location” for large scale green field development according to local Lib Dems. Just two months after campaigning on a “Save our Countryside” platform and talking of how the Lib Dems “stand up against more building and even more traffic”, local Lib Dems have betrayed their voters by opening the doors to massive new developments in and around Hedge End.

They are claiming that one thousand new houses could be built on the fields opposite Hilliers Garden Centre, but documents rubber-stamped by the Lib Dems at Thursday’s full council meeting threaten up to 2320 dwellings on what is one of the few significant stretches of countryside left inside Hedge End’s boundaries.

They are also looking at fields north east of Boorley Green (nominally 1400 but again with potential for up to 2840 dwellings according to the detailed documents) or Allington Lane (up to 5000 houses) as another possible location.

If the Boorley Green development goes ahead combined with Woodhouse Lane, the amount of traffic trying to get to the M27 along Woodhouse Lane, across the Maypole roundabout and along Kings Copse Avenue does not bear thinking about.

But it gets worse. A thousand more houses will be built on smaller green field sites still to be chosen. The Council have a list of fifteen green field locations in and around Hedge End that they consider suitable for development. There is no guarantee that these will be safe from housing.

Just a year after the Lib Dems took credit for tearing up plans for a small town of 6000 houses to the north of Hedge End, they are planning for huge new developments of their own on our doorsteps.

I expect they will come up with their usual platitudes of “having to plan responsibly”, “we are not NIMBYs” and “wanting our children and grand children to be able to live locally”, but the question remains, why target Hedge End, West End and Botley for the majority of Eastleigh Borough’s housing needs? If the requirement was spread evenly and equitably throughout the Borough, allowing organic growth of our existing communities, Hedge End could expect 300-400 houses on its green field sites, not the thousands threatened by the Lib Dems.

Council's Secret Agenda

2011-07-13T10:48:00.000+01:00

A council meeting on Bastille Day could be a risky business. Perhaps that is why Eastleigh is keeping the full agenda for tomorrow's meeting secret.

According to this report in the Daily Echo, there is due to be a debate on the Liberal Democrats' plans to build nearly five thousand houses on green field locations across the Borough.

You wouldn't know it from the agenda published on the Council's web site though. This is all it says 24 hours before the meeting is due to take place:

RECOMMENDATIONS (INCLUDING CALL INS) REQUIRING A DECISION
CABINET – 11 JULY 2011
To follow.

No indication that directions are going to be set which will see acres of countryside disappearing under concrete, thousands more car journeys up and down the Borough, and the quality of life of thousands of Eastleigh voters affected.

And there was me thinking that the Lib Dems were the party of open government.

Berry Interesting..

2011-07-12T10:31:00.000+01:00

"Blame The Tories" says Lib Dem Art and Culture Maestro Cllr Alan Broadhurst in response to Hedge End Blogger's questions about the management of The Berry and its apparent neglect by Eastleigh Council.

Apparently there would be more going on at the venue this summer had conservative controlled Hampshire County Council not withdrawn promised funding. But Lib Dem controlled Eastleigh does not intend to recruit to fill the vacant manager's role for a whole year. That looks like a stealth cut to me. Before The Berry opened the Council claimed it would be creating five new jobs in the area. Make that four then.

If your manager resigns because of stress, I can't see the logic in keeping the position vacant. Surely that just puts more stress on the remaining staff members?

I asked Alan to comment on three areas of concern in addition to the unfilled manager vacancy. They were: the failure of the Council to promote The Berry in the "Borough News", the confusion caused by running a joint box office with The Point, and the failure to programme any of the promised professional touring drama productions for six months between the opening events and the end of September.

Although he glosses over the failure of the Council to promote the venue and criticises me for not publicising the good things that are happening there (bit cheeky Alan! - I guess you hadn't seen this post.) he does cover the other points in some detail. This is in marked contrast to at least one of his Lib Dem colleagues who has refused to engage with Hedge End Blogger at all when asked to comment on other stories of local interest. Thank you Alan for taking this seriously and realising that the new media are now an important part of the democratic process.

Here is Alan's statement:

"It is normal for most provincial theatres to have a "Dark Period" in August. Most people go away for their summer holidays and in an area like ours it is not economic to run a theatre during August as attendance is likely to be very low.

August is normally the time when we would traditionally do summer schools etc but as HCC pulled their promised funding for skills training for young people in technical theatre as part of their budget cuts and because we can’t do anything that could be perceived as clashing with the d@rt’s programme, this year activity will be less.

The theatre has the direction that was laid out in the business plan. It was only due to programme two professional shows a month to minimise financial risk and give time for the programme to grow.

The theatre has only been open for three months as opposed to the Point's 15 years and has come on a huge amount in a very short time. We programme a range of professional shows responding to the needs of the community.

It is extremely rare for comedians such as Ross Noble to perform as a venue such as ours, and in the normal course of events we could not afford to programme him, however we have already gained a good reputation. The shows sell very quickly which is good for our bottom line. Both The Point and The Berry can only programme according to their seating capacity.

The general manager left because of stress, we felt stability should be our first priority and seconded the general manager of The Point for a year. He has over thirty years experience in a number of theatres and also is experienced at managing snagging which is something that is happening this first year, and there are major issues with the air-con, heating, alarm system, the roof. These are also another reason not to over programme in our first year. It is better to grow the programme, we also have a commitment to the school not to programme at certain times, and to run a whole host of community projects as well as our professional shows.

The d@rt were due to take on box office but lost key staff just prior to our opening so were not able to take on the commitment. The Point box office staff stepped into the breach and have done a sterling job. The d@rt is now back up to strength and a training programme is in place for their staff. In them meantime now that all the financial and audit requirements are in place a member of The Point box office team is going to be seconded to The Berry to get box office going from the theatre.

The Berry has been successful in gaining major funding from the arts council - almost unheard of for a new theatre - to work with three theatre companies over the next two years. This will also see the first produced Pantomime going into the theatre this December. We have also been successful in gaining consortium funding to programme more financially risky product - theatre is expensive to put on - and that will enable us to programme more professional theatre going forward. We are also in conversation with The Globe theatre to bring one of their productions to The Berry. You do actually need a multi million pound venue to show professional, digital down load film at time of release.

Once again the theatre has only been open three months, as a totally new venture, staff have been working very hard, doing many, many more hours than they get paid for at a very difficult time. The Director, General Manager, and other senior staff have taken on this extra responsibility for no extra pay and have made a restricted budget go a very long way and I are all very professional even when they had to open a venue that was not even finished at the opening and have had to set up systems, deal with some very difficult snagging issues, and making sure the School do not feel over-whelmed by having a professional theatre on campus. The theatre is actually doing extremely well and some of that is to do with the reputation of The Point but it is not realistic to expect it to operate at the same level as The Point in such a short space of time.

If more mainstream fully produced theatre is a priority for Hedge End members then there is every opportunity for them to sponsor a show, and we are already responding to requests for festivals and other ideas put forward. However I am concerned that we do not lose more staff through stress and if would have been nice to have had some positive comments as well as negative about the external funding, the sell-out shows, the popular community projects, the feature on prime time BBC, the £10K funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

As to the very good opening events, a lot of that was down to the theatre's amateur staff pulling in plenty of favours and personal contacts to get someone like Sam West to opening the venue - for no fee I might add."

Local Lib Dems Misled Voters

2011-07-11T22:45:00.000+01:00

Plans for nearly 200 flats in blocks of up to seven stories could still go ahead at Wildern Mill despite personal assurances by Lib Dem Council Leader Keith House. Writing in a Lib Dem Standpoint delivered to his own ward voters during the May elections he stated that it was now "impossible" for the massively unpopular development to go ahead.

Yet planning documents published on Eastleigh Borough Council's web site on 5th July show that the professional planners at the council are still counting the 184 flats in their calculations of how the borough can meet its housing needs. The "Strategic Land Availability Assessment" states that "The developer has started work on the site to maintain the validity of the planning permission. Site owner considering alternative uses."

So the truth is that the owners of the mill site could still decide to build the flats and if they do, the planning consent granted by the central government inspector against the wishes of the local councillors is still valid. That doesn't fit any reasonable definition of "impossible".

Wildflower Meadow or Car Park?

2011-07-06T08:41:00.000+01:00

Despite their election promise to "save our countryside" and ignoring opposition from nearby residents, local Lib Dems are ploughing ahead with plans which will lead to this council maintained wildflower area and natural habitat disappearing under tarmac.

They want to extend the car park at Hedge End station (not surprising as it's a nice little earner for them at £3 a car), but could they be sacrificing yet another green space in vain?

This photo was taken on a weekday lunchtime and there were plenty of empty spaces in the existing car park.

Meanwhile a few yards away in Old Shamblehurst Lane, people were parking for free.

What's the point of extending a pay car park which isn't full when there is free on-road parking in the nearby residential streets and lanes? Perhaps the Lib Dems need to have a closer look at the assumptions in their business case before yet another green space is lost.

Berry Entertaining

2011-07-05T08:34:00.000+01:00

Ross Noble and Friends on Thursday with "Thor" featuring Anthony Hopkins as Odin on Friday made last week one of the most entertaining at The Berry for Hedge End Blogger since the events of the opening week in April.

Stand up comedy looks like becoming a reliable income generator for the venue. Like Jeremy Hardy back in May, The Berry was sold out for Ross Noble and his friends - Holly Walsh and Joe Lycett - and I should imagine all of those 300+ punters came away very happy they had value for money.

It would be fair to say that the audience was somewhat smaller for the film presentation "Thor". Not a movie I would have travelled to Eastleigh or Southampton to see in a commercial multiplex, but the special effects were definitely more impressive on the Berry's large screen than they would have been on a DVD at home. At about two thirds what we would have paid in Eastleigh and no travel costs I am looking forward to catching up on some more movies during the summer.

The overgrown sign (reported by Hedge End Blogger in June.) has been tidied up, making the entrance to the theatre much smarter and more professional looking.

I suspect they wanted to look their best as they were expecting the BBC to come filming. It was an interesting piece on South Today about The Berry's community project to celebrate Hedge End's strawberry heritage. If you missed it, it's still available on the BBC web site.

All in all it's been a good few days for our new community theatre, but we still have some concerns about the way the Council is managing The Berry. Hedge End Blogger has asked the Lib Dem's arts and culture maestro, cabinet member Cllr Alan Broadhurst to comment on them. Alan has promised to reply when he has confirmed the latest position.

While we're waiting, don't forget the Eastleigh Music Festival and Mela this weekend. I understand that Bowman real ales will be available.

New Rat Run for Grange Park

2011-07-04T09:18:00.000+01:00

Despite their election promise to "save our countryside", local Lib Dem councillors are lining up to support plans to cover this informal footpath between Marlborough Gardens and Maunsell Way with a three metre wide strip of tarmac.

The existing path

A nearby three metre wide tarmac paths shows how this little oasis of green tranquillity might look after the Lib Dem "improvements".

A nearby three metre tarmac path

The existing mature hedgerow along the side of side of the path will be cut back and the path will be extended to the pavement in Marlborough Gardens, destroying the existing grass and bushes.

The proposed junction with Marlborough Gdns

The plans as they stand make no provision for signs or barriers to prevent this new tarmac path being used as a rat run by motorcyclists. It should be possible to improve this footpath without turning it into a small road.

Thieves Strike at Carnival Preparations

2011-06-27T10:58:00.000+01:00

The sign says it all really. Earlier this month there was a raid on the Hedge End Marie Curie Cancer Care shop as reported by Eastleigh News here. Now thieves have struck at another Hedge End charitable institution by stealing a sign belonging to the Carnival.

Let's hope they are not too demoralised and that this week's 90th anniversary carnival is a resounding success.

Berry Disappointing - Act II does not live up to the promise of Act I

2011-06-23T08:38:00.000+01:00

Hedge End’s new theatre is still without a manager and the evidence of neglect by Eastleigh Council is literally growing. A sign installed only weeks ago is all but invisible from the pavement in Wildern Lane as surrounding bushes are not being cut back. I can’t help feeling that if there was an on-site manager this would have been spotted and dealt with.

The box office for The Berry is still being run out of The Point. This is confusing, particularly when tickets for events at The Berry are sent out with instructions how to get to The Point in Eastleigh.

Hedge End Blogger recently pointed out that there was no mention of The Berry in the June edition of “Borough News” which showcased “Summer in Eastleigh”.

It is unfair to give the impression that there is nothing going on at The Berry during the summer months. They have arranged some interesting films and stand-up comedy, there are three community hires for local amateur groups and the scheduling for children is strong. All this is excellent, but it wouldn’t have hurt to have mentioned it in the “Borough News” and give some publicity for the hardworking team at The Berry.

What is worrying is that after the excitement of the opening week there is not much serious theatre for grown-ups. In fact between “Austen’s Women” on 8^th April and “Oh What a Lovely War” on 30^th September there is nothing in the theatre strand at all. That’s nearly half the first year during which The Berry is not being used to its full potential.

It is supposed to be a community theatre, not a cinema or comedy club, or indeed a school theatre.

Let’s hope there is plenty to excite us again when the new season is announced soon and we can forget the disappointing Act II and look forward to Act III.

Strikes Hit Hedge End Recycling

2011-06-21T15:07:00.000+01:00

As news breaks that strikes in neighbouring Southampton are to continue next week, an unexpected consequence for Hedge End is revealed.

Eastleigh relies on Southampton to empty its large bottle banks like the one pictured in the Co-op car park in Hedge End. This has clearly not been happening while the Southampton workers are in dispute with the Conservative administration of Royston Smith who wants to sack his entire workforce and re-employ them with worse terms and conditions.

In the meantime the Hedge End bottle banks will remain full. Eastleigh are clearing up bottles left to the side of the bank (those in my picture which was taken on Sunday had been removed by Tuesday), but it might be best if we kept glass at home, or made use of Eastleigh's own monthly kerbside glass collection.

Lily the Laburnum is Safe

2011-06-16T11:44:00.000+01:00

Responding to a clear message from the Hedge End community, I proposed a motion at last night's Town Council urging that the Village Hall and Pre-School find a children's play area that does not involve cutting down a mature Laburnum tree. I was happy to take the initiative in this case, and acknowledge that the motion would not have been passed without the support of the dominant Liberal Democrat majority on the council.

The Town Council will now work with the interested parties to identify a play area which meets the Pre-School's requirements without cutting down any trees.

There has been some entertaining party political mischief making around this issue on various web sites including Eastleigh News, The Black Balaclava and Hedge End People. One advantage of being an independent councillor is that I have no interest in spinning out a story to make one party look good or the opposition look bad, but could cut through the nonsense and hopefully get the right result for Hedge End.

For those who are interested I reproduce my statement in proposing the motion which represents the facts as I believe them to be. The Pre-School organisers did point out that they had tried to contact the WI but had had some difficulty finding a contact phone number.

"This council has a record of trying to support and assist pre-schools in the village area, recognising that they provide a valuable public service.

In general if a pre-school wants to modify the premises on which they meet, the council does not object.

In September last year we made a section 137 grant as contribution to the fence around the grassed area outside the Village Hall. At that time there was no mention of cutting down the tree and the minutes of that committee meeting state that the pre-school had approved planning permission.

The matter came up next in the March Finance and Administration Committee. And the minutes there are contradictory because they firstly state that the Town Council has no jurisdiction over the tree and then that the tree be felled. Now if this council has no jurisdiction, any resolution to fell the tree has no merit.

At that meeting of F&A it was pointed out by then Councillor Jenny Schwausch that the Hedge End WI did have an interest in the tree, and the committee was consequently making a deicision on partial evidence on a matter on which it had no jurisdiction.

If memory serves the Village Hall Management Committee and Pre-School representatives agreed to consult with the WI before proceeding. This appears not to have happened and when the WI did find out they were understandably upset.

Subsequently it has become clear that the tree is important to the wider population and that the tree officers at Eastleigh agree to the extent of imposing a provisional tree preservation order.

The population of Hedge End is looking for leadership from this council which is why I have brought this motion forward to tonight's meeting.

We don't have formal jurisdiction over the tree, so it is not in our power to save it or to fell it. But we can reflect the wishes of our community and try to influence other bodies, which is why I would urge the Village Hall Management Committee and Pre-School to look at alternative courses of action. There are other options available for an outside play area. They may not be ideal, but it is clear that this option is also not ideal. Once felled the Laburnum is gone forever."

The Tree Preservation Order in progress at Eastleigh protects all the trees on the green space between the Village Hall and Allotment Road.