Town Councillor Slams "Boring" Meeting

Tree Warden, Mayor and Chair of TC

This week's meeting of Hedge End Town Council saw Tory member Jerry Hall laying into the majority Lib Dems for how they conducted themselves at the Annual Parish Assembly on Monday.

Town Council vice-chair Paul Carnell had already reported to the meeting that only 33 people had attended the earlier meeting, and most of those were councillors. The "serving the community award" had been presented to Hedge End's long serving tree warden, Andrew Jemmett.

However when it came to Borough Council Reports on the agenda, Cllr Hall criticised Lib Dem members for making speeches at the annual assembly that were too party-political. He described the event as "poorly attended" and "crushingly boring".

Lib Dem Cllr Cynthia Garton agreed, saying that apart from the first year of the "serving the community award" when there were several local folk nominated, it was always hard to encourage people to come along.

In fact, back in 2011, attendance was only 15 as I reported here: http://hedgeendblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/annual-parish-assembly-it-only-happens.html So perhaps 33 people this year was a good turnout after all.

Cllr Hall went on to claim that funding for the Botley by-pass had been secured in that day's budget. This assertion prompted one or two snorts of derision from amongst the Lib Dems. Cllr Pretty later pointed out that all that had been announced was a pot of money, some of which might or might not come Botley's way.

Cllr Hall's report concluded with the news that works had started to prevent further flooding in Hobb Lane, and the Borough's original budget of £19 million for the new Fleming Park was likely to be exceeded by some considerable margin.

In fact there were meetings in Eastleigh about the Fleming Park project the same evening, which probably explained why some of the more senior Lib Dem councillors were not at the Town Council meeting.

Earlier Cllr Margaret Allingham had reported on two planning applications considered at the last Local Area Committee which I have already described here:
http://hedgeendblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/lib-dems-accused-of-conflict-of-interest.html
http://hedgeendblogger.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/lib-dem-u-turn-paves-way-for-small-care.html

Cllr Pretty also confirmed that although the Borough Council Tax was being frozen again, Hedge End folk would see the County precept rise by 3.9% and the Town Council share by 1%. He also requested support at a planning appeal. A developer wants to build on the fields near the crematorium in Bubb Lane. The council has rejected the application, and the developer's appeal is being heard on 12 April, 10am at the Rose Bowl.


Photo credit: Hedge End Town Council

How Lib Dems spend your money

One of Hedge End's plant towers

As well as considering two planning applications, the HEWEB local area committee this week rubber stamped a number of spending commitments:
£10,600 for a "footway" at Moorgreen Road in West End
£10,500 for a shared pedestrian / cycleway at Barbe Baker Avenue in West End
£5,000 contribution to the TRAIN arts project
£6,000 for tree works in Grange Park Ward, Hedge End
£950 for tree works and a new fence in Tamarisk Road and Jasmine Road, Hedge End
£3,700 for the plant towers in the centres of Hedge End, West End and Botley
£104,000 for new play areas in Townhill Park and Carpathia Close, West End

I had not heard of the TRAIN arts project before. It was described in the officer's report as "a broad and ambitious new digital development programme which will enable young people in particular to tell a story across multiple platforms and formats including but not limited to games, books, events, theatre, media and festivals." It appears to be a collaboration between the Council, The Berry Theatre, the library service, The Sorting Office and Eastleigh Tech Hub.

Lib Dems Accused of Conflict of Interest

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the planning process, and whatever the need for more housing in the Borough, it was clear at this week's HEWEB local area committee that the Lib Dems cannot be trusted to look after public green space.

"Land at Hatch Farm" was transferred to the Council in the 1980s as public open space. The "meadow-like" land was enjoyed by West End residents for informal recreation for a couple of decades. Then the Lib Dems started the process of changing its designation from "public open space" to "land allocated for housing". The next step was a "development brief" which invited housing on what was a green space. Unfortunately for the Lib Dems, their failure to present an adequate Local Plan means the Council's agreed policy for this land is still that it should be protected as public open space.

The planning application for a hundred houses was referred to the committee by officers because it was "contrary to the Development Plan" and the site was "within the ownership of the Borough Council". Large numbers of interested West End folk in the public gallery were presented with a rather unedifying spectacle of the Council being asked to give the Council permission to build houses on land owned by the Council. And all this had been given the OK by the Council's own legal team.

The residents association also pointed out that houses built on the site would be at risk of flooding, and the additional traffic would block already congested roads. They were also frustrated that the report included the private gardens of the new houses were counted when calculating how much public open space would remain after development.

West End Lib Dem Bruce Tennent agreed with the local residents and supported their objections on the grounds of traffic gridlock and flood risk. However, he was put in his place by Lib Dem leader Cllr Keith House. "We have already agreed housing here in principle", he said. Voters had to understand the difference between listening and agreeing. The Lib Dems had listened but they did not agree with the objectors. There would be less flooding risk after the houses were built , the remaining open space would be "improved", and Hampshire County Council did not agree that development here would make existing traffic problems worse. The Lib Dems had to sacrifice green space here to protect green space elsewhere in the Borough.

Lone Conservative member Cllr Hall accused Cllr House of "threatening" the committee. Cllr Hall was uncomfortable about the apparent conflict of interest, wanted to defend the principle of public open space, and agreed with Cllr Tennent that putting more green space under concrete and tarmac was likely to make flooding problems worse.

Planning permission was granted by eight votes to two.

Link to Is it Keith "Million Houses" House?

Photo from @CllrKeithHouse

Lib Dem U-Turn Paves the Way for Small Care Home

After recent criticism from within his own ranks, Lib Dem leader Cllr Keith House was left isolated at this week's HEWEB local area committee meeting. Councillors considered an application to convert a house in Cllr House's ward to a care home for four girls aged 9-18 years. This was a change of use application, and the planning officer's recommendation was to permit the change of use.

Cllr House

In November 2014 the same applicant applied to extend the home with additional bedrooms. On that occasion, Cllr House channelled Clint Eastwood, challenging the applicant to, "Go on punk, make my day" as he led his Lib Dems to deny permission. Some councillors who spoke and voted against the application in 2014 changed their mind and voted in support of the applicant this week. Predictably, the applicant appealed the 2014 decision, and the planning inspector saw through Cllr House's grandstanding and overturned the refusal.

This week's decision was simply about the change of use. Planning officers had decided this application was "controversial" enough to qualify for consideration by the LAC. In technical terms this was a change of use
from C3 (Dwellinghouses) to C2 (Residential Institutions). This is strange because the government's planning portal states that category C3 includes homes for up to six people living together as a single household and receiving care e.g. supported housing schemes such as those for people with learning disabilities or mental health problems . It was not made clear at the meeting why this home for four people had to be subject to a change of use at all.

Neighbours raised a number of concerns, but were primarily worried about the additional car movements and parking that would result from the change of use. The home is not in a location where there is a lot of opportunity for on street parking. However the planning officer's report made clear that the home has a huge front garden which could easily accommodate six cars. The officer's judgement was that the impact of car parking would be no different from a large family with older children who drove and consequently not sufficient to deny the application on planning grounds.

The applicant made representations drawing on their own experience, the need for vulnerable young people to be cared for in a domestic environment close to their families, and their success stories enabling girls in their care in other homes to complete their education and realise their ambitions for the future.

The first committee member to speak was Cllr Emma Norman, the other representative of Wildern Ward.

Cllr Norman

Cllr Norman followed the tone set by the applicant, abandoned her prepared speech, and spoke from the heart in defence of the vulnerable girls who would be helped by the applicant, referring to her own professional and family experience.

At this point the neighbours felt they were being unfairly criticised and there followed a bit of direct discussion between them, the applicant and committee members. This prompted the vice-chair to urge the chair to regain control of the meeting.. This he did, and Cllr Norman apologised, saying she was "choked up" by the applicant's story.

Cllr House then took a more conciliatory position than he had in 2014, stating that both sides of the argument were "right". However he criticised the "emotional" content of the discussion - a comment presumably aimed at the applicant and his colleague Cllr Norman - and stated that he disagreed with the officer about the parking, and would be voting against the recommendation to permit the change of use.

Other councillors picked up his criticisms of the tone of debate, with Cllr Clarke agreeing that there had been too much "emotion" and lone Conservative Cllr Hall feeling the neighbours had been "bullied". However, both they and Cllr Welsh stated they would be supporting the applicant. When it came to the vote only Cllr House put his hand up against the officer's recommendation.

I got the impression the majority had made the right decision, but that the meeting had done nothing to address the neighbours' legitimate worries. The neighbours and the applicants all left the hall together and seemed to be having a huddle outside, so perhaps they were coming to an arrangement without the "assistance" of their elected representatives.


Photo credits: Hedge End Town Council

Hedge End on the Web - week ending 14 February 2016

What have they been saying about Hedge End on the web? Here are some links to things I spotted this week:

Hampshire police appealed for witnesses based on fairly rubbish CCTV pictures.

The d.@rt centre tweeted about a new exhibition called Tides of Change

Hedge End mental health nurse retires - prompting Daily Echo story about his family links with Knowle Hospital

Hampshire and IOW council leaders reject the idea of an elected mayor for the region

Eastleigh Borough Council announced the result of the Freegrounds Ward by election

Eastleigh Borough Council publicised their MOT test service in Hedge End

Council Leader & Hedge End Cllr Keith House not available to comment on job cuts story

Council Leader & Hedge End Cllr Keith House comments on election results

Local councillor comes back to Facebook after seven months to criticise Hampshire CC budget

UKIP brought news about Cllr Keith House that followers of Hedge End Blogger have known for over a year! 

Hedge End Town Council are looking for volunteers to help with conservation projects

Hedge End on the Web - week ending 7 Feb

Here's a few links to mentions about Hedge End I've spotted on the web in the last week:

The Berry Theatre tweeted about their half term show for kiddies

The Daily Telegraph listed Hedge End station's ticket desk at risk of closure
(This is an old link that has been recirculated this week)

Eastleigh News publicised the Hedge End Gang Show

Hedge End's MP called the Lib Dems' local plan "weak"

The same day Hedge End's MP said the local plan was "not strong enough"

Hedge End's MP asked her leader a question calling for "argument" not "warfare" over the EU referendum

Hedge End's MP met with representatives of cancer charities

Hedge End's MP also tweeted this photo of Conservative activists hard at work on the doorstep in Hedge End during the Town Council by election campaign (!!)

Hedge End company Dimplex got a bit excited to have a visit from our MP

Hedge End Gang Show

Hedge End Scouts have asked me to pass on news about their 2016 Gang Show. Happy to oblige:

Hedge End Gang Show – Feb 2016

Hedge End Gang Show is back with big plans for their return to the Scouting Stage
with their ‘Best of British’ production which will hit the stage in February 2016.

Hedge End Gang Show has been providing creative activities for Scouts in and
around the Itchen district for over half a century having celebrated its 50th Birthday in
2013. After a few years away, the Gang Show is back with huge plans for their next
production  ‘Best of British’ featuring the very best of British music, comedy and
variety from yester-year through to yesterday.

In 2013, Hedge End Gang Show entered the ‘Bright Sparks’ singing competition and
as competition finalists were chosen to perform vocals upon the ‘Project Christmas’
album which was professionally recorded and released on an international scale.

In October, Hedge End Gang Show commenced their revival by uniting with other
Scout shows from across Hampshire to perform in ‘Hampshire Scouts Present’ at the
Winchester Guildhall, entertaining a full house and receiving a standing ovation along
with their peers. Now, nearly 5 months of hard work later, their own district show is
almost ready. The cast are polishing their acts and adding final touches to the show,
scenery is having its final coats of paint and the last sequins being are being sewn
onto costumes.

With a new show comes a new Producer with Kevin Harmer taking the helm.  “This
show is a tribute to our great country, brought to you through comedy, song and
dance. All the music in the show has been written or performed by British artists. In
2016 we celebrate the 90th birthday of the longest running monarch, we also
celebrate 100 years of Cub Scouts. Four years ago we were preparing for the
Olympic Games and 50 years ago the Beatles did their last tour together. We
celebrate all these events and more in the show.

Hedge End Gang Show takes to the stage on 19th and 20th February at Wyvern
Technical College, Eastleigh with a matinee performance on Saturday 20th. Tickets
are £7 for children and £9 for adults and are available from
www.ticketsource.co.uk/hedgeendgangshow or ‘Thoughts’ card shop in Hedge End
Village.