At last night’s Andover Forum we were told about the new initiative to introduce No Cold Calling Zones into Andover. The first trial was in Hepworth Close and has proved successful.

The aim of the scheme is to deter bogus callers (distraction burglars and rogue traders) from approaching people living in the zones and give residents the confidence to say “No” to cold callers who seek business at their doorstep.

Potential zones are pinpointed by police and trading standards  and then set up once residents have been consulted and are known to be in support. Other zones will also be considered if set criteria can be satisfied. Residents living in proposed zones are visited and given a special No Cold Calling Zone pack containing general consumer and safety advice. Also included is a Buy With Confidence directory of approved traders and a door sticker telling cold callers they are not welcome. Signs are then erected to identify the zones and residents are advised to report any future suspicious cold calling activity.

If you would like your street to become a no cold calling zone please let me know on 01264 356759 or len.gates@andover.co.uk. I will collate requests and pass them on to the trading standards department.

Several residents have contacted me angry about the insensitive way Test Valley has announced possible job cuts. Last Tuesday leader of the council Ian Carr went on Andover Sound to announce the council was looking at redundancies and service cuts saying that there “was no hiding place in the borough council – for anybody.” The comments were repeated in Friday’s Andover Advertiser where he added “Every service and every person is being looked at because that’s how bad it is. People and services are at risk.”

While I applaud his frankness in admitting the borough’s finances are in deep trouble his decision to announce this on local radio before staff were informed is inappropriate. Council finances are in a serious position and this needs to be managed responsibly. TVBC needs the full support of its staff and all councillors to weather this crisis and that means being open with them.

The Liberal Democrat group is willing to work with the Tory administration to resolve this problem but we cannot sanction cuts unless there is no other alternative. I would also expect a full review of the council’s finances which for too long has been over dependant on investment income. Council tax has been kept artificially low for many years by reliance, against the advice of council officers, on this investment income. This has made Test Valley more susceptible to the fall in interest rates than other authorities. The administration must take responsibility for this and take appropriate action to protect Test Valley for the future.

Test Valley Borough Council has voted unanimously to support the Rights, Respect and Responsibility program currently being developed in Andover’s schools and to support the idea of making Andover a rights respecting town.The motion, proposed by Cllr Jan Lovell, was as follows
“TVBC  
- congratulates the Northern Test Valley Partnership for Education in bringing the inspired conference, “To a Rights Respecting Community”, to Andover in October 2008.
- thanks the Children’s Commissioner, Sir Albert Aynsley-Green for his keynote address to that conference and for his personal endorsement of the internationally groundbreaking initiative of cultural change being spearheaded by our local schools in Test Valley
- pledges support for our children and young people in their quest to imbed, Rights, Respect and Responsibilities (RRR) as a way of life
- recognises that an RRR ethos, based on the UNICEF Rights of the Child, can successfully deliver powerful, sustainable, beneficial outcomes and increased wellbeing for all communities.”

I was very pleased to second this motion. I can confirm the success of the project. I have seen it at first hand in Knights Enham Schooland have seen it transferred to Anton Junior School where I am a governor.

 This is a fantastic project and an example to all, both in schools and outside of them. When children are taught about their rights they become more respecting of the rights of all other children and more socially responsible. This is the most important factor; they also learn their resposibility to respect others’ rights in all relationships in the community. 

A perfect example of this is the reaction of Knights Enham pupils to the war in Iraq. While so many children and adults focused on the conflict, these children empathised with their counterparts in Iraqi schools and wondered what the effects of the war would be on them

But this is not just about schools this is about a community. It is about building a better, stronger community and it about the youth of Andover building that community. It is about introducing (or re-introducing) moral principles into our community

For years we have seen a deterioration of values encouraged sometimes by public figures, even governments. We have been told “greed is good”, “there is no such thing as society”, “look after no1”, “wage wars on terror and anything else you don’t like”. There is a better way and the children of Andover have embraced it. You have rights but you also have to respect the rights of others, and you have responsibilities. So simple but so difficult for many people to grasp. But the youth of Andover have grasped it

This is not an initiative from governments, or councils. This is coming from the schools themselves, the staff and the pupils. This is the future and they should be proud of themselves and we should be proud of them. I can do no more than repeat two comments made about the program -

Sir Al Ainsley-Green Children’s Commissioner: “What is happening in Andover is truly exceptional…… If you can make this work in this town then you will be a trailblazer for others to follow.”
And Ann Hughes (head teacher of Knights Enham School): “If this work is maintained then we can really make a difference to the next generation.”

I  congratulate Mrs Hughes and her staff and all the other staff in all the other schools in Andover. But most of all I congratulate the youth of Andover.