During the installation of raised kerbs for local bus stops the bus shelter at Rhodes Square was damaged and removed. Thanks to pressure from local councillors it has now been replaced.

This bus stop is very exposed and it is unacceptable to expect passengers to wait there without a shelter. Although it has taken a long time to replace the shelter I am grateful to highways officers for pushing this project to the top of the agenda and to county councillor Robin Hughes for his help in ensuring the job was finished as soon as possible.

Alamein Community Association is working to make the Alamein Ward an even nicer place to live. Are you interested in your local environment? Would you like to help take action to make it even better?

Come and find out more at King Arthur’s Hall on 10th April 2008 at 5:30pm. Refreshments will be available. Representatives of Test Valley, Testway Housing and Hampshire County Council will be there.
Following this the next step will be a chance to get together and talk about what types of environmental issues you would like to tackle. This will be at King Arthur’s Hall on 29th April at
7.00pm.

All residents are welcome at either or both events. For more information please contact

Alison Angell, Community Support, Hampshire County Council
email - alison.angell@hants.gov.uk,  phone -07736 792686
Marianne Piggin, Community Support, Test Valley Borough Council                  
email - mpiggin@testvalley.gov.uk,  phone – 07899 664209

Hampshire County Council have agreed in principle to 20 mph speed limits outside schools. But the limits are not legally enforcable and the council expects the schools to pay for the signs.

The “20 is plenty” campaign launched by Hampshire County Council this week has been condemned by Liberal Democrats as ineffective. County Councillor Adam Carew who sits on Hampshire County Council’s environment policy review group and is a school governor said “Although we welcome the 20 is Plenty campaign as a very positive idea in principle, the scheme lacks teeth ! ”

The 20 mph being offered outside Hampshire Schools is purely voluntary and can be flouted by the very minority who cause the safety problems. This is not good enough. What schools need is a compulsory speed limit that can be enforced if required. To make matters worse the Conservative run council seems to be forcing schools to pay for the signs themselves or find private sponsors. Each sign costs £200 plus installation charges if required. If the County are really committed to this campaign and getting speeds reduced outside our schools they should offer the signs free of charge.

The Liberal Democrats have launched a new website providing an online forum to highlight the work of the Liberal Democrats Defence Team lead by Nick Harvey, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary.With increasing demands made of our Armed Forces and with continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, our Manifesto pledge has never been more pertinent: we should look after our Armed Forces so they can look after us. Since this pledge we have repeatedly championed the concerns of the Armed Forces and remain distinct on defence. We opposed the unnecessary and costly war in Iraq, we have campaigned across the country for adequate recognition for personnel and for the rights for Gurkhas and we are the only party to have put forward our priorities for Forces welfare.

Nick Harvey says “I want us to continue in this vein and ensure defence remains at the top of the agenda. It is for this reason that the Defence Team has launched this new website. We believe there should be a forum for us to discuss and debate how our liberal values should shape the defence agenda in light of the changing strategic landscape and international concerns, and highlight the work we, as a party, are doing on the whole gamut of defence issues; including disarmament, procurement, and welfare. It will also offer readers the chance to keep up to date with the work of the Team in both Houses. Please feel free to have a look and leave comments on the site.” Click here to go to the website http://blogs.libdems.org.uk/forcesfocus/

Recent reports on Cllr Ian Carr’s proposal to change the composition of the borough council executive have provoked an angry response from the electorate.I and many other councillors have since been contacted by residents, of all political allegiances, opposed not only to the plans but also to the way in which they have been brought forward.

His plan is to remove minority party councillors from the executive “to ensure council decision making is more business-like and transparent.” Decisions will in future be taken by his supporters only. Whatever happened to debate and consensus? He claims he wishes to avoid confrontational meetings. His solution to this appears to be to do away with anyone who disagrees with him. In reality council meetings are business-like until one side seeks to impose its will on the other. The proposals and the way they are presented are a recipe for confrontation.

If this change is needed why did he not propose the change sometime in his last nine years in power? He supposedly has been considering the changes since last year but hasn’t seen the need to consult outside his own group of supporters. He also failed to consult or even advise the electorate who he asked to re-elect him in May 2007. As there was no mention of this major change in the way TVBC is run at the May elections he has no mandate to change the council’s constitution.

He has argued that the change is allowed within the constitution and does not need public consultation. It may be within the letter of the rules. It certainly isn’t within the spirit of those rules. His decision to bring the proposals to council without adequate consultation is unacceptable.

There may be some merit in his proposals but only as part of a review of all aspects of the council’s decision making. We all, as councillors, have an obligation to consult the electorate and govern Test Valley in their best interest. Cllr Carr appears to have forgotten this. Residents can be assured I will remind him of this when the proposals are debated at full council.

Test Valley Borough Council is proposing introducing alcohol free zones across several of the wards of the borough. The Designated Public Places Order (DPPO) gives the Police and other accredited persons, such as Neighbourhood Wardens, the power to confiscate alcohol from anyone found to be behaving in an anti-social way whilst drinking. The extended order would not prevent consumption of alcohol but would make it an offence to continue to do so after being told to stop by a police officer, and could result in a court appearance and a £500 fine. The council is now giving residents the chance to comment on the proposals. Responses to the consultation should be sent in writing to David Smith, Housing and Community Services,Test Valley Borough Council, Beech Hurst, Andover SP10 3AJ before the 18 April 2008.

Test Valley Liberal Democrats fully support the new alcohol free zones. The initiative was first proposed by Valley Park councillor Alan Dowden in June 2007 when he submitted a motion to council calling for action to combat anti-social behaviour. Speaking at the time Cllr Dowden called for the introduction of alcohol-free areas in Test Valley. “Antisocial behaviour is one of the biggest issues with the public and a lot of it is down to alcohol. The problem is borough-wide. Alcohol-free zones will act as a deterrent, but the police will need to enforce them. The cost to the borough in criminal damage was way over £100,000 last year. The public is demanding something is done about it,” he said.
He was supported by Romsey mayor Mark Cooper who called for measures to stop young people getting hold of drink saying that “The supermarket sale of alcohol is placing large volumes of relatively cheap alcohol into the hands of immature individuals. I would favour a borough-wide ban of alcohol in public places.”

The proposal to introduce the ban in all urban areas of the borough was ratified by full council in October 2007 but needed Home Office approval before its introduction.

I welcome the public consultation. At last we are seeing some action on a problem which is of major concern to all residents. The relaxation of licensing laws has lead to an increase in drinking and drink-fuelled vandalism in public places which residents find offensive and unacceptable. We must give the police and other agencies the powers to combat this. I hope appropriate action will also be taken against those shops irresponsibly selling alcohol.
I am sure the public will give their overwhelming support to the new proposals and the police will use these new powers sparingly but effectively to reclaim our streets and parks from the minority who are spoiling them.

Liberal Democrat councillors will be monitoring the levels of anti-social behaviour in their wards and looking to review the effectiveness of the ban next year.

Following the success of the Smannell Lib Dem weblog Alamein Liberal Democrats have launched a similar service for the parish of Enham Alamein.

The blog will be used to report to residents news from their local councillors  at Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council. It will also give parish residents the opportunity to comment on matters of local interest. The blog can be found at  http://enhamlibdems.blogspot.com.

I am happy to join Smannell Lib Dem campaigner and transport consultant Nigel Gooding in launching a campaign to provide a greener, safer, reliable bus service to Andover Railway Station from Smannell, Little London and Enham Alamein.Nigel, who was responsible for establishing the award winning National Rail Enquiry Service, has undertaken a survey of public transport in the villages of Smannell, Little London and Enham. His findings found that despite daytime CANGO Hampshire County Council time services to Andover, no bus service actually went to Andover Railway Station. As a result residents of the 2 parishes were left with no alternative to use their motor cars and fight for a parking space at the under pressure Andover station car park. We have passed the details of their findings to Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Smannell and Enham Parish Councils Robin Hughes who said today. “It makes economic and environmental sense that Smannell and Enham to have the same opportunities as other parishes in terms of the provision of a commuter CANGO bus service linking road and rail at Andover Station.

For full details see the Smannell Lib Dem blog at  http://smannelllibdems.blogspot.com

Local residents hoping to see the start of planting and landscaping of the East Anton MDA this spring have been told nothing will now happen until November 2008.

The landscaping will be in two parts, both areas will be planted with native species:

1)       A woodland landscape feature 25m deep along Dark Lane and a similar feature 25m – 40m deep between the proposed playing fields and Woodhouse/Smannell. Work will start once plans have been approved and must be finished within the planting season after the first house is built on the MDA.

2)       A 20m corridor from the playing fields south to the Smannell Road/Finkley Road junction will start at the same time and be completed prior to the building of the 700^th house on the MDA. 

I share residents’ disappointment in the delay and will be monitoring progress to ensure as much planting as possible is finished by spring 2009.

Liberal Democrat Leader on Hampshire County Council, Councillor Adrian Collett, is calling on Hampshire’s Tory MPs to explain why they all sat on the fence when the cash settlement for Hampshire County Council, which is well below the average rise given to other councils, was agreed by the House of Commons.

Every Hampshire Tory MP abstained rather than vote against the proposal for Hampshire to have a rise of only 2.0%, which is far less than the average increase of 3.6%.

“The low rise in the amount of money from central government to help pay towards council costs in Hampshire will mean a tight year ahead for local services,” said Cllr Collett. “The rise barely takes into account inflation and the additional costs of services the government requires councils to provide.

“The end result is that councils are being forced to increase council tax above inflation and cut services. It is a case of pay more and get less under Labour. Already it is clear that Hampshire Tories are planning yet another wave of bus service cuts, and £1m reduction in the Causalty Reduction Programme and the Library Book Fund will almost certainly be raided again.

“So I find it remarkable that not a single Conservative MP in Hampshire bothered to oppose this poor deal when the vote was taken and make a stand for our area. Local residents and council tax payers are owed an explanation.

“It seems that the Conservatives are failing to mount a strong challenge to the Labour government and are content to sit back and let Gordon Brown’s Labour government get on with things. The only party to vote against the council cash plans in Parliament and stand up for local residents were the Liberal Democrats.”

Press release supplied by Cllr Collett.

 In a last minute change of policy funding was found for voluntary car schemes, but only for cars carrying patients to and from hospital. The funding is worth £15,000 in Andover with similar amounts allocated to Romsey, Baddesley and Wellow. An attempt by Liberal Democrats to allocate extra funding to rat catching was rejected. “I am asking Test Valley to continue free rat clearance and to provide the Environment and Health Department with sufficient resources to meet this plague of rats head on”, said Cllr Mark Cooper. 

Speaking on the budget I said “The main problem facing this council is the outdated council tax structure and insufficient government funding. Until this is replaced by a fair system of local income tax we will continue to struggle to balance our books and provide the level of services our electorate expect of us.”  I queried whether the council could continue to find cost savings of £300,000 every year without threatening services and called for a review of the council’s publicity budget, currently over £400,000 per year, and the subsidised garden waste collection scheme. Also needing review is the Andover levy which should be accountable to the people of  Andover through their own town council.

Free car parking will remain after 4:00pm. This was a Lib Dem initiative to encourage shoppers into our towns and any withdrawal of this could threaten the local economy. Other parking charges will increase and are expected to generate an extra £70,000 but this will only cover the £60,000 loss on the current charges. Could it be our charges are already at a level where resistance is such that we are driving customers to shop in other towns?