A new shuttle bus service will be commencing in June for patients needing to get to Winchester Hospital from the Andover area. A pre-bookable shuttle bus (fully accessible and with capacity for 2 wheel chairs) will run four return journeys direct to the hospital. The bus will start from Andover hospital, stopping to collect patients from Andover Bus Station and Stockbridge (at Trafalgar Close, if pre-booked). The journeys will be free for this service. The scheme is being promoted by the Winchester & Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust and is supported by Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council. Leaflets publicising the new service can be collected from GP’s surgeries, the library, the Council offices, the hospital and downloaded from the Council’s web pages.

I am pleased to see this service finally coming in to operation after many months, if not years of campaigning by Andover councillors in pareticular St Mary’s councillor Rod Bailey. Well done Rod for working as always for the residents of Andover.  

I have recently received a letter adressed to “Mr and Mrs (no surname) at my home address inside was a small note congratulating me and saying I had received a free gift. All I needed to do was phone a number and quote the hand written code on the note.

Rather than phone the number I checked out the sender on Google and found a whole load of cautionary blogs. Check yourself for “Matters Consulting Ltd Survey UK”

 Best advice comes from the Trading Standards as posted on moneysavingexpert.com 

I have received an enquiry from a NHW member who has received an email from a Company called Matters Consulting Ltd, t/a Survey UK of Cheltenham, www.surveygifts.co.uk. The email informs them that they are entitled to a gift donated by a local business (no name given). They quote a gift confirmation number which can either be telephoned through or by logging onto their website.Trading Standards have confirmed they have heard of this Company - they are trying to get people to join a gym by giving a free gift of a manicure or pedicure and supposedly cheaper membership to the Gym Club.”

I have thrown the letter in the bin (recycling of course) and advise all residents to do the same.

The airwaves over North West Hampshire burst into life for the very first time this week as the areas new radio station ‘Andover Sound’ started to broadcast test transmissions on 106.4fm

Anyone who now tunes into the frequency will hear the broadcasts.  They feature a mix of the type of music the station will play and information about its full launch on Bank Holiday Monday, May 26th. The first record played was “1973″ by James Blunt, who grew up in St Mary Bourne.  Ian Axton, the Managing Director of Andover Sound, said “To finally hear 106.4fm come to life was a fantastic moment.  People have been campaigning for the station for years, and our team have been working round the clock in the past few months to get it on air.  These test transmissions are a major step towards our full launch at 9am on May 26th”. 

You can tune in by selecting 106.4 FM, or by listening online at www.andoversound.com.

Having visited the studios and met staff myself I can recommend the new station which I am sure will be a success and prove to be an asset to both Andover and the surrounding villages.

A new environment group has recently established it self in the Alamein Ward and what a difference it has made already!! Set up by local residents, the group will be tackling various environmental projects throughout the ward, ranging from planting flowerbeds, assisting with conservation at Anton Lakes, encouraging recycling, a source of information for the community and much more more.

One project has been completed to date; using plants donated to the group by Blakes Nursery on Saturday 19 April at Atholl Court, King Arthurs Way. Local residents were asked to choose a plant, which was then planted by member of the environment group. A once dull and neglected bed flowerbed has now been transformed bringing much colour to the area. Chris Lawton, Church Army Family Worker, commented “it really does brighten up the area and I’ve received many positive comments about it.” Chris provides outreach sessions at the Askalot Community Shop.

If you would like to get involved, the next meeting is being held on May18 at 6pm at King Arthur’s Hall, or for more information please call John Cockaday on 01264 334562.

 Story supplied by Marianne Piggin, Community Support Officer, Test Valley Borough Council

At last Wednesday’s council meeting final approval was given to Cllr Carr’s proposals to establish a single party executive in Test Valley (see blog of March 16th). The Liberal Democrat posirtion was that we would accept the changes provided there was adequate scrutiny of this change and future executive decisions. To this end Cllr Rod Bailey and I tabled an ammendment to the Tory proposals - “In amending the constitution this council acknowledges that the close scrutiny of the Council’s decision making processes is in the public interest and is essential in a healthy democracy. Council therefore instructs the Overview and Scrutiny committee, at its next meeting, to consider the impact of these proposals on the scrutiny and other committees of the council and report back, with recommendations, as appropriate.”

In an hour long debate successive LibDem councillors argued ther case for a more open, democratic and cross party approach to decsion making. The Tories missed the point and stuck to the party line that they could change the executive so they would and that consultation with the opposition and the public was unecessary.

In summarising the ammendment I argued ” the proposals have been ill-researched and are inappropriate unless we undertake extra research and consider the knock on effects for other committees. This is why I believe it essential that we add this amendment so that scrutiny can consider the effects and come back urgently with it’s response to them. The next Scrutiny meeting is the ideal time as the agenda at present is light and the major item is consideration of a report from the audit panel that a separate audit committee be established. It would seem appropriate therefore if scrutiny considered this matter at the same time as both proposals impinge directly on the current working of scrutiny and on its future effectiveness. Finally I would remind members that these proposals approved or otherwise are the ideas of the leader only and not of the council or the public as a whole and as a member of scrutiny and leader of the opposition group I intend to ensure democratic accountability is maintained. As for the future I will happily consider members of the conservative group in my executive in 2011. That is, of course assuming there are any conservatives still on the council at that time.”