Monday 29 April 2013

County Council Success


·      CONSERVATIVE HAMPSHIRE RATED TOP COUNTY COUNCIL BY AUDIT COMMISSION

           Council tax increased by only 1.9% for the next two years
·         Lead in children’s care. Provided expert help in Haringay after “Baby P” failure
·         BEST COUNTY COUNCIL IN THE LAND
WHAT THE COUNCIL HAS DONE:
·         Highest Performance
·         Lowest council tax
·         Excellent value for money
DESPITE
LOWEST GOVERNMENT GRANT

·         Introduced 30mph speed reduction programmes for 106 rural villages
·         Refurbished libraries, expanded their services and extended opening hours

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS BY CONSERVATIVES IN HAMPSHIRE
Invested £74m a year maintaining our roads
Provided £2m extra for pothole repairs
Pioneered “20 is Plenty” to improve road safety outside schools
Kept children safe and secure
Expanded and improved special schools
Provided 50 Community Safety Oficers
Provided 10 new nursing care homes
Increased the number of care beds from 873 to 1,436
Pioneered care programme to allow elderly to live at home.
Established award winning Discovery Centres
Supported local communities through Councillor budgets
Led the country in reducing landfill – down to 10%
Produced electricity from waste: enough for 50,000 homes
Increased and improved household waste recycling centres
Amongst the best GCSE results in the country
Saved £50m by refurbishing rather than replacing condemned offices. Halved its carbon footprint and reduced leasing cots by increasing its capacity to provide workspace for double the number of staff

Getting things done! Shakespeare Road

This bus stop at the eastern end of Shakespeare Road has been causing a considerable for residents for some time.  This flooding had not been reported until I took the matter up with the County Council - and there has been an immediate reaction.  This is what they say in their e-mail:
It is anticipated that a hard standing area will be formed between the hedge and the kerb line as you suggested and as you will appreciate we will need to ensure that this is constructed with a suitable fall to ensure that water is shed directed onto the road eliminating the current flooding issue.

The work will be carried out as soon as possible  If I am elected as your county councillor on Thursday, you can rest assured that I shall deal with all matters as effectively as this.

Monday 8 April 2013

HMS Minerva M33



Hampshire County Council have been criticised for restoring the historic warship, HMS Minerva M33, saying that the money could have been spent on maintaining "axed libraries."
Culture and recreation chief Councillor Keith Chapman, defended the expenditure.
He said: “The county council saved and restored the M33 warship, which is one of only two surviving First World War ships, and it will now become an even more popular public attraction as the nation remembers the 1914-18 war when it celebrates the centenary of that war.”
Cllr Chapman said the county was in discussion with National Museum of the Royal Navy to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for future works.
The ship refit comes after the council closed Stanmore Library in Waverley Way in 2012 to save £36,000 per year. The library moved to The Carroll Centre where it is now run by volunteers.
North Baddesley Library was also shut last year but reopened the following day as a community library run by the parish council and Friends of North Baddesley Library.
The thing to remember is that NO LIBRARIES HAVE BEEN CLOSED and a historic warship has been saved for the nation, thus increasing tourism and bringing income to the region.

The Truth About Hampshire County Council and What I shall do


Hampshire County Council: the Facts - from Michael Read, Conservative Candidate for Eastleigh East

LibDems say Hampshire Museums are threatened with ‘Shut Downs’

FACTS: In order to provide a sustainable future for the Museum service in Hampshire the County Council has been consulting on a proposal to merge its museums with those of Winchester and Southampton City Councils to create a Hampshire Solent Cultural Trust that supports the delivery of their Arts, Heritage and Museums service. The primary purpose of this is to sustain these services for the future and give it access to a range of other financial resources available to support these services.

LibDems say: Cutting Libraries
FACTS: No Libraries have been cut; the services from libraries have been extended, while some have been converted into Discovery Centres giving a wider range of services and some smaller libraries are being supported by local voluntary organisations.

LibDems say: The County has forced through £6 million cuts in Children Centres
FACTS: The primary aim of Children Centres in Hampshire is to give Parental training and support to young mothers and ensure a good start in life to their children. Hampshire has one of the largest number of Children Centres in the country – none of the 81 Centres have been closed, instead to sustain their long term future the ponderous and heavily bureaucratic services required to support them under the previous government have been streamlined saving £6m enabling some of the savings being made to improve the front line services they offer by recruiting additional Child Support staff for outreach work and to introduce Speech and Language Therapy for the children who need this service at these centres.

LibDems say: Is trying to wipe out our Youth Services
FACTS: The County Council is actually spending more this year on youth services than in the past and is continuing to giving grant support to a range of county wide voluntary youth organisations such as the Scouts, Guides, Boys Brigades, cadets etc., to support youth work.

LibDems say: Making £100 million cuts targeting the most vulnerable in our community
FACTS: By Stripping £130 million out of the overhead expenses and running costs, the County Council is using these recurring savings to compensate from the drop in funding from government and rising inflation and to add £10million a year to the budget for Adult Care Services and £4 million to the budget for Children’s care services to cope with the increased staffing and support cost needed to support the large number of vulnerable older and young people needing its care. In addition it is improving the way this care is delivered to enable older people to live more independent lives and by providing personal budgets and re-enablement services to those who would benefit from these services and provide funding to the members of extended families who have the ability to care for the young children needing care services in their family circle, as well as providing £45 million  plumbing system to provide purified hot and cold water to serve just over one thousand staff members of staff in the refurbished accommodation.  This replaces a large number of purified water dispensers and kettles previously used.
LibDems say: The County council is doing nothing about the increased demand for school places over the next 10 years.
FACTS: The County council has in place a £600 million Capital programme to boost the local economy. A large part of which is to provide the 8,000 school places needed across the County Council area to meet the needs of a rising birth-rate. Already schools across the County are being extended to provide for the immediate demand and this new money is being provided to build the new schools being planned to be built where they are needed.

LibDens say: Wasting money spending £43 million on posh new offices.

FACTS: The refurbishment of the HQ office building in Winchester referred to, actually cost £29 million. It heralded a programme to rationalise the Council’s office estate. Its open plan transformation has allowed it to accommodate twice as many staff as it did previously. The refurbished building allowed the closure of a number of office buildings in Winchester. 73 office complexes across the County are now being disposed of and it is now one of 8 office hubs across the County that will replace these disposals, saving millions a year in recurring running and maintenance costs that will keep Council tax low for years to come.  There are no “golden taps.” This is part of a system called Hyper Taps, a plumbing system to provide purified hot and cold water to serve just over one thousand staff members of staff in the refurbished accommodation.  This replaces a large number of purified water dispensers and kettles previously used.
Putting £300 million in the bank
FACTS: Much of the money held in the County Council reserves is a ring-fenced allocation from Government for Schools Capital programmes. The remainder of the money placed in reserve is being held to fund ongoing identified County Council Capital programmes of work and to avoid the need for borrowing money for future capital programmes, the interest costs of which would impact adversely on Council Tax levels.
This prudent policy is putting the County Council in a strong position to protect its residents from the effects of future government funding cuts.
£1.5m on designer furniture?
FACTS: HCC have reduced Council expenditure by £130m. This furniture was included in the refurbished offices.

Luxury  office landscaping with specially imported German trees??
FACTS: The landscaping was to complete the refurbishment of the office building and German trees lost in the work were replaced FREE OF CHARGE!!


Hampshire Conservatives do care.  We are on course to provide, and (if re-elected) we shall strive to complete, the following:

·         600 new apartments for the elderly (with 24 hour care for them, 7  days a week) over 3 years
·         1,000 extra jobs for 16-24 year olds over 5 years
·         8,000 more school places with 7 new schools and 35 major extensions to schools over 3 years
·         £160million  more to be invested on our roads in the next 3 years
·         Growth of £30 million in the budgets for Children Care Services and Adult Care
·         £14million Extension of Super-Fast Broadband to all of Hampshire by 2016

Michael Read says:
If elected I shall:
  • Fight to preserve our green spaces from inappropriate development, including the continued threat to Eastleigh Recreation Ground and Stoneham Park
  • As a former teacher, work to maintain the quality of our schools
  • Fight for 20mph speed limits outside schools for when pupils arrive and depart, controlled by electronic traffic signs.
  • Prevent the use of speed humps as road pinching can be used instead and is far less damaging
  • Seek to improve driving standards across the county by driver education, both through the cooperation of schools and colleges and road safety groups.  This includes the use of appropriate speed.
  • Provide an Addiction Recovery Programme in Eastleigh Centre
  • Work to ensure that public transport services are maintained
  • Work to maintain the current level of council tax and services
  • As Labour and LibDem climate policies have brought power cuts closer, work to lessen their impact by encouraging economical use of energy at home and work.
  • Seek to increase apprenticeship schemes and encourage industry to come to Eastleigh.
  • Make myself available for consultation at any reasonable time by personal contact or e-mail.
  • Fight for drainage problems such as this one at a bus stop in Shakespeare Road to be addressed: