Litter bugs caused floods

Flooding in Wildern Lane earlier this month was caused by a drain blocked by a plastic bottle. See Daily Echo story here.

Hedge End Town Council has learned from County Councillor Rupert Kyrle that the bottle - which could have been recycled - caused a build up of leaves in a critical drain. The subsequent flooding caused traffic chaos in Hedge End and forced Wildern school pupils to use a makeshift bridge made from crates to cross the flood waters. Other drains have subsequently been found by the County Council to be partly blocked by tree roots.

It's a shame the County waited until the disruption had been caused before they acted because Cllr Norman and I reported last November that the drains in Wildern Lane were not working. A quicker response might have saved Hedge Enders a lot of inconvenience and some wet shoes.

"Contractors" to investigate flooded path

Hedge End's unintentional pond

Following my report on the state of the new footpath and cycle way through Greta Park which floods every time it rains, things might be moving. (See Lib Dems' New Path is a Wash Out)

The Town Council Recreation and Amenities Committee has it on their agenda for next week.

Previous questions about the path have been addressed by the Highways and Planning Committee, and I planned to raise the flooding under "Highway matters" at last night's meeting. However the deputy clerk got in first with news about the partly submerged cycle path. Apparently the Borough Council's contractors have been asked to do something about it and will be back on site next week.

I hope they bring their wellies.

This is an extract from the minutes of Highways and Planning containing the response to my question about the contradictory signs on the path:

Gavin Bourn, Construction Manager, Transportation & Engineering, EBC responds with regard to the signed route of Greta Park cycle/pathway. Although the route is off highway, it has been signed as a normal shared use cycle route with cycle symbols and the corresponding upright signs indicating mixed cycle/pedestrian use. This is a quirk of the sign regulation just to clarify that cyclists can also use the route as there is no corresponding symbol for pedestrians for display on the surface. Flooding issues are to be addressed by the Contractor next week.

Lib Dems' New Path is a Wash Out

Things they won't tell you in Standpoint and Focus

Proudly boasted as an "all weather" path, the Lib Dems' latest attempt to encourage people to walk in Hedge End floods every time it rains.

Extract from recent Local Area Committee minutes

The combined footpath / cycle way through Greta Park to Turnpike Way is an excellent idea, and was positively received by people living nearby.  It is also a much better use of contributions from housing developers than the Lib Dems' recent decision to invest £360,000 in the Rose Bowl boxing club.

However pedestrians hoping to walk from Turnpike Way to the centre of Hedge End without getting wet and muddy shoes, have been disappointed.

The slightest rain sees the path flood in a number of places, leaving slimy, slippery mud on the new tarmac surface, and on winter mornings dangerous ice.

Lib Dems increase travel costs

News you won't find in Standpoint or Focus

As rail season tickets go up by 2.5% local Lib Dems have piled on the misery for travellers at Hedge End station. From the beginning of February, it will cost £3.20 to park at the council-run car park.

The Lib Dems justify the increase as "only" 20p per day, but the fact remains that is an increase of nearly 7%, way above inflation. It comes at a time when people have been bludgeoned by four and a half years of Lib Dem and Conservative austerity measures.



Related blog post: Lib Dems 1 Countryside 0

Is it Keith "Million Houses" House?

Bulldozers are poised in our green fields... 

Gone are the days when Hedge End Lib Dems had any credibility when they promised to "stand up against developers" and "save our green fields". Now hard-working Hedge End Councillor and Lib Dem leader Keith House has a government job working out how councils can help developers build even more houses. He is rapidly becoming a full time lobbyist for the housing developers.

At the recent party conference he supported the destruction of the green belt in the pursuit of the Lib Dem target of building 300,000 houses a year.

He is working in cahoots with a Conservative housing development lawyer and lobbyist for a "million houses" to "examine how councils could access finance in innovative ways to get more homes built".

Here he is seeking plaudits from fellow Lib Dems after being given the Local Authority Housing Review job by coalition crony Eric Pickles: link to Lib Dem Voice blog.

He even got a name check in George Osborne's Autumn Statement for that!

Cllr House has a famous capacity for hard work. As well as his work finding ways for councils to pour more concrete on our green fields, he is on the board of the Homes and Community Agency which exists to build more houses, particularly on publicly owned land. He is also the Lib Dem lead for housing at the Local Government Association.

With so many other jobs where his success depends on building more and more houses, it must be hard to even consider turning down more development in Eastleigh and Hedge End.

Here he is supporting development in Sunderland....

 And here in Newcastle....

Photo Credit: (1)David Neal (2)@NatalieElphicke (3)@CllrKeithHouse

More on that Resignation

Following the news last week that Cllr Jenny Hughes had resigned from Hedge End Town Council and Eastleigh Borough Council, the plot deepened over the weekend. Another email arrived from Jenny in which she says:

"Thank you for your email. I was just wondering if you could publish a correct date for me. I resigned from council on the 28th November at 7:30am so am surprised to read that it was received and announced on the 2nd December, I feel that the cover up about when I resigned should be questioned. It also raises the question of how much control does Keith House have over Hedge End TC?"

So according to a Lib Dem insider, there was a cover up, and Cllr House has some kind of control over Hedge End Town Council. We need to bear in mind that he is leader of the local Lib Dems, and leader of the Borough Council, and leader of the Lib Dem group on the County Council, but on the Town Council the only formally elected role he holds is chair of the strategy and personnel committees. And the strategy committee has not met since October 2012.

Lib Dem Svengali's New Secret

Cllr Jenny Hughes has resigned as a Hedge End Town and Borough Councillor. This is reported at length on Eastleigh News and The Hedge End Trumpet.

Some of the questions and speculation on those sites are answered by an unsolicited email Hedge End Blogger has received from Jenny. In it she unambiguously puts the responsibility for any delay in publicly announcing her resignation with Lib Dem leader Cllr Keith House who, she says, was trying to keep it quiet. You have to admire Cllr House's svengali-like control over his councillors.

It has clearly been of benefit to the Lib Dems to keep this secret and avoid a potentially embarrassing council by-election with opinion polls putting them in fourth of fifth place behind the Greens and UKIP. I'm sure Cllr House would not like a repeat of Rochester and Strood in his own back yard.

Picture Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images