Parking - Road Safety

One of my interests - or should I say concerns - is road safety.  I belong to the Institute of Advanced Motorists and, over the years, have spent many hours on the road as part of my business, so am well aware of the need for driver education.  I believe this is infinitely more effective than more and more regulations  heaped upon the hapless motorist.

Reversing
As I was about to drive away from the council offices the other day, I watched a car reverse out of a parking space and reflected on the unnecessarily increased risk this manoeuvre entailed, when it is so much easier - and safer - to reverse in and drive out forwards.

These photos show my view as I waited to drive out forwards - an easy view to the left, but a restricted view to the right.  Had I been reversing out, facing in the opposite direction, my view would have been totally, rather than partially, obscured by the car in the lower photo.  As it was, the rear of this car partially obscured my view to the right.  If he had reversed in, however, I would have had as a clear a view as I had to my left.
This is what Advanced Driving UK says:

Reversing your Car

September 22nd, 2007. Posted in Motoring & Driving Tips



In a car park, do you reverse into a parking space and drive out, or drive in and reverse out? The next time you are in a car park, have a look around and see how many people reverse into the space. You will probably find that most people actually drive in and reverse out. There is no doubt this may be safer/more convenient if the spaces are angled, when you have to load/unload items from the boot or if it would cause inconvenience to other road users.
On the other hand, reversing into the space provides you with several advantages. The first of these is that it is safer to reverse into somewhere you can see into (the parking space), rather than reverse out, into somewhere you can’t (the line of moving traffic). Many people find that it takes them a few minutes to settle into “driving mode” when they start their journey. Therefore it doesn’t make sense to undertake a potentially high risk manoeuvre such as reversing when you are not concentrating fully. It is also easier to control a car going forwards, rather than backwards when the car is first started and the automatic choke is activated. The reduction in wear and tear on you and the car is useful too – plus the fact you can pull away immediately while the engine is cold, rather than labour it doing a reversing manoeuvre.
From a security point of view, reversing close to an object such as a wall can make it more difficult for thieves to access your boot. If you need to exit a parking space quickly for personal security, driving out provides you with better acceleration and improved vision.
Over the next week why don’t you try reversing into a parking space? You may find it helpful if you have electric mirrors, to lower your left (nearside) mirror as this will provide you with a guide to your lateral position. Another option where all the spaces run in parallel rows is to line your car up with the space in front and reverse back in a straight line. This should automatically position you in the centre of the space.

The Highway Code says: "When using a driveway reverse in and drive out if you can,"  so this would also apply to car parks.

Parking at night

Did you know it is illegal to park facing the wrong way at night?  The Highway Code says:"You MUST NOT park on a road at night facing against the direction of the traffic flow unless in a recognised parking space."  That means with white lines around it.  Traffic attendants are very quick to issue parking for minor infringements but this parking the wrong way round, which could be very dangerous, is totally ignored.

It can be dangerous because people often leave their headlights on when they are parked on the wrong side and cause dazzle, making it impossible for oncoming drivers to see an open door or even someone standing in the road.  It can also be dangerous to pull across oncoming traffic in the dark, with your headlights on.

I don't want to see any more laws passed, but I would like to see this one enforced.

Daytime Parking.  In fact, I try not to park against the traffic flow at any time as the Highway Code says:

239

Use off-street parking areas, or bays marked out with white lines on the road as parking places, wherever possible.
If you have to stop on the roadside:

• do not park facing against the traffic flow.

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7 Things You Need to Know about Men and Heart Disease

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I saw this iu The Reader's Digest and thought it would be a good idea to share it:

1. Men are twice as likely as women to have a heart attack.
2. Men who drink at least one can of sugar-sweetened drink per day increase their risk of heart disease by a fifth.
3. Fat is not just a female issue - 42 percent of men are overweight as against 32 percent of women, raising their chances of coronary-artery disease.
4. Men who have erection problems have twice the risk of a heart attack - it's an early sign that all's not well with the old ticker.  so don't be shy, go and see the doctor.
5. Older men with low testosterone levels have a 38% higher chance of dying from heart disease.
6. Men eat a third as much salt - which can raise blood pressure - as women, with both consuming over the daily recommended limit of 6g.
7. Sitting down is bad for you.  Men who spend over ten hours a week in a car have an 82% higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who drive for under four.

Broadband - success!!

A VirginMedia engineer came this morning - the third one in a week - and brought a hub, that gadget above the cabinet, with him.  As I said in my last post about broadband, the cabinet is overloaded and is a real mess inside.

The hub will regulate the signal into our house and give us steady broadband reception.  However, the cabinet will have to be replaced by the end of June, because it won't handle the new super-fast broadband that will be coming to all Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford.   To VirginMedia's credit, they have sent engineers out very quickly and credited our account with refunds to compensate for our inconvenience.  Nevertheless, the first engineer should have listened to what I said and diagnosed the problem.

So if you have intermittent broadband reception check that you have a hub - and also check that you have a modern cabinet - as it won't be any use after the end of June.

North Stoneham Park

North Stoneham Park

Following on from my last blog, it appears that people just don't realise that it is LibDem run Eastleigh Borough Council that wants to concrete over this local beauty spot.  And they actually voted for this to be concreted over just a few weeks ago!!!!

The consequences will be enormous:

• It will remove the strategic gap between Eastleigh and Southampton.
• If this happens, Southampton will develop from the other direction. 
• It will place an enormous strain on local services which are already struggling to cope with the Pirelli development; and the Prysmium development will also be competing for these services.
• It will cause a massive increase in traffic in Chestnut Avenue.
• There already insufficient open spaces in Eastleigh.
• It will remove local heritage for our posterity.

On Saturday, I took part in a walk - above - around North Stoneham Park and we aim to make a lot more noise in the future about this as trhe development must not be allowed to happen.

Does this ghostly logo sum up what people actually know about what Eastleigh Borough Council does?

We were talking to people on Saturday who said they always vote Conservative nationally but LibDem locally because the latter do a good job on the council.  We asked whether these people had any concerns and they said yes, they objected to the proposed development on Boorley Green, to which we answered, "You voted for it."  Then they said they objected to the proposed building on Eastleigh Rec, the takeover of Aegeus Bowl, the proposed move of the civic offices and building on North Stoneham Park, to which the answer was the same:
"You voted for it."

This is what I wrote after the local elections:

So it's all over for another two years and the people of Eastleigh have voted for the following:

• The building of 1,300 houses on North Stoneham Park, thus closing the strategic gap between Eastleigh and Southampton
• Extending Sainsbury's onto the Recreation Ground
• Building on Botley Park Golf Course
• Moving the Civic Offices into the Centre - at a cost of £12m -  and causing massive congestion, making parking much more difficult for visitors, thus causing the continued decline of the retail sector, with even more shops closing, and the possibility of the redevelopment of the existing site and part of Fleming Park.  
• The purchase of the Rose bowl - now Aegeas Bowl - at a cost of over £30,000,000
• Relocate the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Woodside Avenue to land off Stoneycroft Rise off Chestnut Avenue, which will affect the recently developed Freespace enjoyed by many hundreds of young people with its BMX track. Like the adjacent North Stone it is also in the Strategic Gap between Eastleigh and Southampton.

Over the next few months the Conservative group will be explaining more about what a LibDem council really means for Eastleigh, so continue to follow this blog and encourage your friends to do so as well.

Cable broadband reception

Do you have a problem with your broadband reception?  This cabinet has been a problem for us for some years as successive VirginMedia engineers have told us that it is overloaded - the competent ones, that is!  They go to the cabinet, tweak something and reception is restored - for a while.

For the last two weeks, our internet reception has been very intermittent, usually going off completely between about 3pm and 9pm.  Last week engineers came out two days running but made no difference.  When I complained again on Saturday, some guy in India said he'd send us a hub, which would make us completely we-fi, but It would do nothing to resolve the signal quality to our house.  Today, however, I managed to speak to a charming young lady in Swansea who actually listened to me.  She checked the signal quality to the house and found that it was too high - so on Wednesday another engineer is coming out, so hopefully normal service will be resumed.

In the past, I could speak to a British based technician as a matter of course, but putting their service centres offshore has reduced  service considerably.  Then, an engineer would come, having been properly briefed, and then check both internally and externally, making sure that everything was working properly.  Now,  the person who takes my original call doesn't understand, and the engineer doesn't seem to know what he's doing.  However, by phoning VirginMedia and saying I was thinking of leaving them, I got put through to that charming young lady in Swansea.  So now I'm hoping for the best.

About a year ago we tried Sky, but we were left with no broadband and no telephone, so we returned to VirginMedia with, we thought, a much better deal.  It was certainly far cheaper and got the V+ box that works just like Sky - but now having these problems.  However, to give VirginMedia credit, they have reduced our bill significantly this month.

More on Binmen - and postmen

Last week the binmen came at about 6.30am but today they didn't come until after 11!!!  Last week I asked the council why there was this discrepancy and was told it was because of all the relief drivers they use.  Each one has a different work pattern. 

Now, is this a problem?  For us, the collection isn't a problem , but putting away is as dustmen don't seem to worry about where they leave the bins once they've emptied them, so sometimes we have to go and look for ours.  Once, we completely lost our food waste bin, so I had to phone the council for another one.  And the wheelie bins can be right down the road if we don't retrieve them quickly - or even in another road!

I should have thought that with a little ingenuity it would be possible for both binmen and postmen to come at roughly the same time for each collection/delivery, so I shall continue to look into this.

True blue

And now for something political.

I'm what I'd call a proper Conservative, a Thatcherite, one who believes in small government, low taxes, freedom of choice and no political correctness.  By the same token, I believe in honesty and morality, which is why I am so upset by the lies that the LibDems tell about the Conservatives in Eastleigh and Winchester.

I am, therefore, not too happy with the wishy-washy liberalism of the Coalition, either, and would dearly love to see a reasonably right of centre Conservative government in power. So when Adrian Beecroft accused "socialist" Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, of not being fit for office as unemployment is rising due to the Coalition's refusal to reduce red tape in business, I whole heartedly agreed.  In fact, the LibDems called Beecroft's scheme "bonkers."  

The LibDems are inevitably the reason that Cameron's promised referendum in Europe never took place, and why there could be problems with rejecting the European  Court of  Human Rights ruling on votes for prisoners.

The Labour government got us into the mess we're in now by overspending and overdeveloping the state sector, so I found it interesting the other day when I met a couple who tried to tell me that it was all the fault of the Major government.  I tried to remind them that Gordon Brown spent several years saying that he wouldn't change the Conservative strategy, before bragging that he'd abolished boom and bust.

What we need now is a breakup of the Coalition as it doesn't work, and an election as soon as the Conservatives have proved that they are Conservatives.  Fortunately, there are plenty of backbench MPs who are now proving that they are traditional Tories, thus scotching the UKIP view that the Conservative party no longer exists.

Watch Out - Neighbourhood Watch

WATCH OUT! - Eastleigh Neighbourhood  Watch Association

2011 CENSUS HOAX WARNING

NW are aware that an e-mail entitled "Population Census: a message to everyone - act now" is eing circulated, allegedly in the name of National Statistician, Jill Matheson.  This e-mail demands individuals provide furthe personal information and threatens fines for non-compliance.
This e-mail is a scam and a hoax. It has no connection whatever with the National Statistician, the 2011 Census or the Office for National Statistics.
NW believe the links in the e-mail could download malware to any computer where the user clicks on the links.  Anyone receiving this, or similar e-mails, should delete them, not open any links and certainly not provide any information.
For more inforationon how to protect yourself from this type of threat, please see www.getsafeonline.org
If you wish to, please report receipt of any such suspicious e-mails to www.actionfraud.org.uk
Nofurther requests relating to the 2011 Census will be forthcoming from the Office for National Statistics.

BIKE THEFTS INCREASING

Recently the weekly crime bulletins issued by the Police have been showing significant increases in bike thefts in all parts of the Borough.  In many cases rhese have been rom back gardens or insecured sheds; others have been to bikes  locked to apparently secure posts or frames.  This problem has been given borough-wide priority by the Community Safety teams.
The Police advise that cycle locks whti steel cables can no longer be considered safe as they are vulnerable to cutting with bolt croppers. Instread, the use of a hardened steel D-lock is recommended.  Even one of these attaching the bike to a secure post may be insuficient if the bike has expensive wheels; in such cases two D-locks are recommended, fitted around both the bike frame and the wheels.  To facilitate recovery in the case of loss it is also recommended that bikes should be security coded.  Contact the Police on 0845 0454545.

WHEN OUT SHOPPING

Hampshire Police advise that when you're out spending money thieves may be out too, looking for opportunities to commit crime.  Follow these tips to stay safe while you're out shopping:

• Remember to take your credit and debit receipts with you: some of them may carry your card details.
• Try to pay using a debit card rather than using lots of cash.
• Take extra care when using a cashpoint or chip and pin: don't let anyone see your pin number.
• Keep your cheque card separate from your cheque book and never write down your pin number.
• If you carry a handbag, keep your purse at the bottom. Keep your handbag fastenened at all times.  Crowded shopping areas are very popular with pickpockets so never keep your wallet in your back pocket.
• Don't leave any bags, including your handbag, in the shopping trolley while you shop.
• Stay alert when using your mobile. It's very easy for someone to snatch it out of your hand.
• Always put shopping and parcels in the boot of your cars when driving.
• Don't return to your car to leave purchases in the boot before continuing with your shopping, as thieves may watch car parks.
• Don't leave valuables on the seat of your car - they attract thieves.
• Keep the car dor locked, even when travelling.
• Don't leave your house keys in your car.

DISTRACTION BURGLARY

Although anyone can be a victim of distraction burglary, bogus callers often prey on elderly or vulnerable people because they see them as easier targets. 
If you know someone who is elderly or vulnerable who might not be aware of this advice, please do all you can to help them protect thenselves and their homes.  Offer to help your neighbours to check the identification of callers.  If you have elderly friends or relatives, have a look at their home to see if there are any extra security measures that could be taken.  If they don't have a door chain or spyhole make sure they have one fitted.  They can be bought from most DIY stores for less than £10.

A "memo minder" is a good way to remind vulnerable people of what they should do before opening the door.  It allows a family member to record a short message which is played every time they go near their front door.  They are available from £20 at specialist DIY stores.  Where possible, help vulnerable people to set up passwords with utility companies, so that they will know if the caller is genuine. 
Encourage them to use a bank account instead of keeping large amounts of cash in their homes.  Help them to keep their garden tidy; some burglars keep a look out for unkempt gardens because it could be a sign that someone elderly lives there.

EASTLEIGH CENTRAL REPORT

Eastleigh Central team continue to work hard on the key crime areas of burglary, car crime and violent crime.  Throughout the Central area all these crimes are down compared to the same period last year.  They have had success in tackling purse thefts in the town center, have successfully executed recent drug warrants and have put cycle thieves, drink drivers and speeding motorists before the courts.
Town and Residential: crime and disorder associated with public drinking and theft of cycles.  For Fleming Park and Aviary Estate theft of cycles, especially from college campuses and antisocial behaviour on Grantham Green, speeding, and on surrounding areas and on the Aviary estate.  There will be a firm focus on antisocial behaviour towards the summer months.
Eastleigh Neighbourhood Watch Association   www.eastleighnwa.org.uk

Are Binmen a Law Unto Themselves?

On the whole I am very satisfied with our refuse collection service, but I have a query.  Are binmen a law unto themselves?  They always seem to block the road when quite often they could move the lorry just a metre or two further to allow the traffic to pass.  I appreciate that they do have to walk a long way - in fact they often run - so it would be helpful to them to park as close to the bins they  have to empty. But they do it as a matter of course.  Is it written in their job description that they have to block traffic as much as they can?

This morning at about 6.30 I was driving along the road behind our house when I came across a kamikaze binman.  I stopped to let him cross in front of my car from the truck to the side of the road and then - blow me down - he then rushed in front of my car as I moved forward.  Fortunately I managed to stop in time.  When he reached the lorry I tried to move forward again - and once more he darted in front of me!!  He's completely unscathed and I did manage to get home shortly afterwards.

In defence of our dustmen, it's endemic, this blocking of traffic.  It happens, as far as I can see, throughout the country.  In Peru they have open trucks and they go round ringing a bell for residents to take their rubbish out as they arrive, but I have never noticed them blocking the street.

Another thing:  rubbish collection is no longer at a regular time of day. The council say this is because they now have a lot of relief drivers, who work different patterns, but it doesn't help residents who are lulled into a false sense of security and leave putting their bins out until the morning - and then find that the binmen have been already.

My next-door neighbour reminded me of how we used to hang our bin bags up outside our back doors and the binmen came all the way in and collected them.  The next stage was taking the bin bags of the frame and putting them in the back alley behind the gate; then it was into the road - and now of course we have to wheel the bins into the road or they're not collected.

When I was visiting virtually every street in central Eastleigh before the election, I noticed that people were putting plastic bags in their green bins.If you're not sure what you should put in the green bin, may I suggest you visit  
http://www.eastleigh.gov.uk/waste-recycling-environment/recycling/green-bin-recycling.aspx#What
I'm afraid  the link doesn't seem to work, but you can find it by going onto waste recycling, or maybe even pasting the above into your browser, so I'll leave it there.

Letters and leaflets

I promised I'd look into not properly delivered mail and junk mail, so here we go:
First of all I went to Eastleigh Sorting Office and spoke to the manager.  I explained the problem of insecurely delivered mail, where it was left either in an unlocked porch or even sticking out of the letterbox, and this is what he said:

• The instructions postmen have is to deliver only to the first delivery point, or it would take too long and they'd have difficulty finishing their round.  So this means that the delivery point must be secure.  If a property has a porch where the outer door has a letterbox, the postman will always put the mail through that one, whether the outer door is locked or not.  It is therefore up to the occupier to make sure that the outer door is locked.
• Regarding letters not pushed through the letterbox, this is usually because there is a mail basket on the inside and the letter gets stuck.  So the basket must be big enough to take the mail.
• Anybody who has tried to deliver leaflets or papers to a house where there is a dog knows how perilous that can be.  It can be quite terrifying to hear a dog launching itself at you from the inside.  For this reason, postmen are instructed not to put their hands right through the letterbox, although they have to try to make sure that the delivered item isn't visible from the outside.  Any item left protruding from the letterbox can be an indication that there's no-one at home and therefore  open to thieves. (This is another problem I'm trying to address).
• It's up to a dog's owner to restrain it when the postman calls.

Those letters or leaflets poking out of the letterbox can also be caused by people putting screwed up leaflets partly through the letterbox.  I have noticed that the leaflets delivered for pizza companies seem to be a particular problem.  The deliverers make no attempt to push the leaflet beyond the draught excluder, thus causing it to become screwed up and making it impossible for the postman to put his letters through.  The Royal Mail manager and I thought it highly likely that the postman - or anyone else delivering - would simply remove these leaflets and dispose of them.

So what should we do?

It's annoying to get any junk mail you don't want,isn't it  ?  So I went to the council offices and asked them what they could do about it and they said nothing as it wasn't against the law.  All we can do is to put a notice like this one on the door.  But even when we do so people still deliver it.  I spoke to the lady who put this notice up and she was really annoyed about it.  At this stage, all we can do is to stop the postman from delivering junk mail by asking Royal Mail: Customer Services 08457 740 740  or better still by registering your house online with the mail referencing service www.mpsonline.org.uk

I've seen commercially produced laminate notices saying no leaflets, circulars, salesmen..... but as yet I don't know where they come from.  Eastleigh Council used to produce this:

but it's been discontinued.  However, Hampshire County Council now do this:

which is great for preventing cold canvassing.  If you'd like your area to Cold Calling free please let me know and sound your neighbours out and put it to the Council.  Just because I'm not a councillor, it doesn't mean that I can't get things done.  The Civic Offices keep these laminate stickers and they give you another one for you to stick on the inside of the door:

Sorry it's a bit dark; it looked OK on the phone.  I'll replace it with a better one later.

That's all on this subject for now.

Charity bags and leaflets

When I was on the doorsteps of practically all the houses in Eastleigh Central I noticed a vast number of unwanted leaflets and charity bags despite notices on doors asking for them not to be posted.

I also noticed a large number of leaflets partly stuffed into letterboxes, making it impossible either to push them through or to pull them through from the inside.  A pizza delivery company was one major culprit. 

In addition, I was really disappointed to see that many letters delivered by the Royal Mail were not delivered securely, either being left in porches with unlocked doors or even sticking out of the letterbox.  Although I wasn't elected on 3rd May, I intend to follow this up and report my progress.  I shall be asking both the council and Royal Mail how they intend to rectify this situation.

- so watch this space!!

Conservative fight back

I'm pleased to see that the Conservatives are fighting back nationally after the drubbing in the local elections. 

I have today received a letter from David Cameron in which he outlines the successes of the Conservative led coalition.  He starts by saying that Boris Johnson's victory in London's Mayoral contest was a victory for Conservative values, "which are at the heart of all we want to do in government, changing our country to make it much more on the side of hard-working people who want to get on in life. 

"The most profound demonstration of this is our all-out efforts to stop Labour's dire deficit from crippling our country.  It is taking longer than anyone hoped to recover form the biggest debt crisis of our lifetime, but good progress is being made.  Our credible fiscal plan has helped us maintain our top international credit rating and - in contrast to many other European countries - we have interest rates at near record lows, which keeps down the cost of ffamily mortgages and business loans......

"Our values are also at work stopping Labour's something-for-nothing culture.  We are capping benefits; radically reforming welfare to make work pay; controlling immigration; boosting business; improving standards in educarion; and cutting taxing for millions for millions of hard-working families....

"We want to see Britian competing on the world stage as a hub of enterprise and innovation.  We want to put teachers firmly in control in the classroom and restore discipline to raise standards.  We want to end Labour's something-for-nothing culture once and for all."

These are the government's achievements so far:

• Getting the defidit down through tough spending reductions
• Reducing corporation tax to the lowest in the G7 and showing that Britain is open to business
• Establishing 111 Free Schools and over 1,400 academies to create the widest choice in our education system
• Making work pay through the biggest welfare reforms in 40 years and capping the total amount of  benefits that one household can claim
• Capping immigration and sending the firmest message to Europe by rejecting the EU Treaty and we have legislated to ensure no government can transfer powers to Europe without holding a referendum

What remains to be done:

• Rebalancing the economy away from the government spending and finance, and towards export-led private sector growth
• Putting teachers firmly in control and restoring discipline to raise standards
• Ending Labour's someting-for-nothing culture once and for all
• bringing migration down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands

Please would you contact me if you would like to help the Conservatives achieve these goals.
michaelread@ntlworld.com

LibDem Leaflets

Just before the election the LibDems put out a leaflet entitled Outrage, which made false allegations against the Conservatives - and this is what the leader of Hampshire County Council, Ken Thornber, said:
“I have been handed copies of electioneering literature being widely circulated across Eastleigh Borough that wrongly accuses the Conservative run Hampshire County Council of a number of things including, trying ‘to build 6.000 more houses around Hedge End and Botley’, “axing youth services”, “threatening Children Centres” and “cutting bus passes”. This is all totally untrue. The literature also wrongly accuses the County Council of wanting to sell land it does not own at Tan House Lane, Botley, for housing development.

These allegations are clearly being made in an attempt to mislead the electorate into voting for their candidates in the forthcoming Borough Elections and unless they immediately retract these statements and deliver these retractions to every household in the Borough that has received them before polling day, I shall have no alternative but to refer the matter to the Electoral Commission for their adjudication.
In fact, what happened was that these allegations were reiterated in further leaflets, thus hiding the true intentions of Eastleigh Council.

I pledge, as a local campaigner, that I'll fight against all these LibDem proposals that they've been hiding:

The building of 1,300 houses on North Stoneham Park, thus closing the strategic gap between Eastleigh and Southampton

Extending Sainsbury's onto the Recreation Ground

Building on Botley Park Golf Course

Moving the Civic Offices into the Centre - at a cost of £12m - and causing massive congestion, making parking much more difficult for visitors, thus causing the continued decline of the retail sector, with even more shops closing, and the possibility of the redevelopment of the existing site and part of Fleming Park. 

The purchase of the Rose bowl - now Aegeas Bowl - at a cost of over £30,000,000

Relocate the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Woodside Avenue to land off Stoneycroft Rise off Chestnut Avenue, which will affect the recently developed Freespace enjoyed by many hundreds of young people with its BMX track. Like the adjacent North Stoneham Park it is also in the Strategic Gap between Eastleigh and Southampton.

What the continuation of a LibDem council means

So it's all over for another two years and the people of Eastleigh have voted for the following:

• The building of 1,300 houses on North Stoneham Park, thus closing the strategic gap between Eastleigh and Southampton
• Extending Sainsbury's onto the Recreation Ground
• Building on Botley Park Golf Course
• Moving the Civic Offices into the Centre - at a cost of £12m -  and causing massive congestion, making parking much more difficult for visitors, thus causing the continued decline of the retail sector, with even more shops closing, and the possibility of the redevelopment of the existing site and part of Fleming Park.  
• The purchase of the Rose bowl - now Aegeas Bowl - at a cost of over £30,000,000
• Relocate the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Woodside Avenue to land off Stoneycroft Rise off Chestnut Avenue, which will affect the recently developed Freespace enjoyed by many hundreds of young people with its BMX track. Like the adjacent North Stone it is also in the Strategic Gap between Eastleigh and Southampton.

I believe that the people of Eastleigh have fallen for the lies of the LibDems and just don't realise what they intend to do, so we must continue to alert them of these dangers.

Make your vote count

So today's the day to cast your vote.  We must have change to stop the LibDems from wasting our council tax.  they intend to borrow £100,000,000, which we'll have to service.  they much of the fact that council tax has been frozen, but that was done by central government.

We also must preserve our open spaces.

As I've been campaigning I've found tremendous support for what we want to do.  Your views matter to us and we want to make sure that the quality of life in Eastleigh is the best possible.  I know there are issues with the government, but we are voting on local issues and the Conservatives are best placed to deal with them.

I'll never tell you lies and won't make promises I can't keep.

Enough for now as I have to get going.

Save our Recreation Spaces from the Lib/Dem Development.

Please vote for me tomorrow and

Save our Recreation Spaces from the Lib/Dem Development.

Eastleigh Town area is already short of recreation space, well below the national standard. Now it is proposed to take away more of the Leigh Road Recreation Ground to allow Sainsbury's to build a new store. This follows land already taken as a hard paved area alongside the present building for parking and more recently taking public land to extend "The Point".

It was not so long ago that the Lib Dem Council wanted to build on Grantham Green. Fortunately the public reaction was such that this has been shelved for now.
They took the allotments in South Street which were sold for over £10 million. They are now taking allotments in Woodside Avenue.They closed the Fleming Park Golf Course depriving young people of the opportunity to enjoy golf. Botley Park Golf Course is included in the proposed Local Plan for the development of over a thousand homes.

The recreation ground at Doncaster Farm together with land at Stoneham Park is also included in the Local Plan to build 1300 dwellings. Whilst the Council stand to gain many £millions, this will deprive residents in the South of the Borough of a recreation ground and part of the strategic gap between Eastleigh and Southampton will disappear.

There is also a proposal to relocate the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Woodside Avenue to land at Stoneycroft Rise off Chestnut Avenue which will affect the recently developed Freespace enjoyed by many hundreds of young people  with its BMX track.  It is also in the Strategic Gap between Eastleigh and Southampton.

If development takes place at Allington, it is proposed to build a new road through part of the Itchen Valley Country Park, a protected area of Special Scientific Interest.

If the "Rose Bowl" [now "Ageas Bowl"] is purchased, might we find some of that Land allocated for development and if the Civic Offices are relocated  to the Town Centre, might we see  in any sale of the present office and adjacent Magistrates Court for re-devlopment part of Fleming Park included?

There may be more plans, we have a duty to residents to be vigilant. We need to protect our recreation areas. Once they have gone, they are gone forever.
As a Council that purports to encourage healthy living, they do little to help. As well as taking away recreation land, they increase charges  for the use of recreational facilities by more than inflation every year.

Godfrey Olson.

Why bother to vote?

On the doorstep we hear regularly: "All ;politicians are dishonest. Why should you be any different?"  As the LibDems have demonstrated so conclusively this week, they are certainly dishonest, putting out lies about the Conservatives.  In addition to lies about Hampshire County Council, they also said the Conservative group opposed the building of the Vue Cinema in the Swan Centre.

In fact, the opposite is true.  The Conservatives were asking why it took 9 years!!!

I am very heartened by the fact that all the people I work with in the Conservative group are honest and have integrity, but depressed by the fact that our opponents don't play fair.  We put out the press release highlighting the LibDem lies but The Echo says it goes against against their guidelines to publish it so close to the election.    However, they have published a letter by the leader of the Hampshire County Council,Cllr Ken Thornber.

PLEASE  remember that these are local elections - about local issues.  On the doorstep, once I explain my position, people say they will vote for me as I express their concern about local issues.

I, too, have issues with the Government, but please remember that it is not a Conservative government!!!  The County Council, however, is indicative of what Conservatives do:

HOW CONSERVATIVES MANAGE IN DIFFICULT TIMES

While the Lib Dems try to influence your views by misinformation and misrepresentation the Conservatives at Hampshire County Council are quietly getting on with the job of improving services for local people despite the huge drop in funding from Central Government caused by Labour’s mismanagement of the nation’s finances causing the Council’s budgets to be reduced by £100 million.

Even before the first Conservative Chancellor’s budget, we rolled up our sleeves and just as any other well run company does when faced with a loss of income, we set out to tighten our belts, look after our customers and secure the services they depend on.

To protect Hampshire residents, despite a large rise in inflation, Council tax has been frozen for three years providing a real saving for them.

In the Council, service divisions were merged and restructured, saving the costs of two Directors of service and a whole tier of senior management as all core services were ring fenced and staff leavers were not replaced. By careful management, even although the workforce was reduced by just over 1,400, only 17 people had to be made compulsorily redundant.

By introducing home working, changing working practices and hot desking in offices, overhead costs have been dramatically reduced. 53 buildings are now being replaced by 8 strategically located office hubs.

No service cuts have been made. No Libraries, Museums or Children centres have been closed. The County’s outdoor centres and country parks remain open. Bus subsidies have been increased, schools budgets are sustained and by sharing our IT and property services with adjacent Counties and Public Service providers and saving the payment of landfill taxes by recycling more of our waste, new income streams have been found.

This has helped the County to carry out a major road maintenance programme for its 5,000 miles of roads; replace all street lighting with more cost effective, carbon reduced lighting; more care staff have been taken on to care for the increased number of elderly residents needing it and to look after an increasing number of children we need to care for.

Just an example of good Conservative Management and as the Audit Commission proclaims, Hampshire County Council is an excellent authority, open for business, and still giving Hampshire people good value for money.  

Sainsbury’s Redevelopment - Save Eastleigh Recreation Ground

Sainsbury’s are planning the redevelopment of their Town Centre Store.  As Conservatives we are not against the supermarket expanding per se. However, the potential permanent loss of a part of Eastleigh Recreation Ground to the residents is considerable given the scale of the plan proposed.

 For many residents the Rec is the only public green space which they can comfortably walk to and enjoy together. It is the green heart of Eastleigh as a community - particularly children, young people and those who cannot drive to green space. It is a very well used and much loved part of Eastleigh, and hosts regular high profile community events and celebrations (including the Summer Fayre and carnival, the Fireworks display and switching on of the Christmas lights. For many children especially those living in flats - and those being looked after in town centre nurseries it is their only space to play.

 A local resident says “A sunny day on the Rec is a joy to behold, but with family picnics, and groups of friends gathering on the grass there is already limited space for children to play ball games and the like. My own children - like many others - use the park on a pretty much daily basis and in all weathers. Many of us see it as an extension of our [small] back gardens. This is exactly how it should be for a community recreation ground.

“The Rec has already been reduced in size in recent years. For that to happen in order for a community facility like the Point to expand is one thing - for a commercial organisation to build on that Rec is quite a different issue.  Older Eastleigh residents remember when there were tennis courts, bowling green and much more green space - Many of these regret that they and others did not fight harder to keep these community facilities. I do not want those regrets. I believe that a decision to allow Sainsbury's or any commercial organisations to 'buy' our precious green space will live as a terrible legacy for those making the decision and will not be easily forgotten by people here.”

So Eastleigh Recreation Ground is the green heart of our town and must be preserved at all costs.  Any further encroachment upon it would give the give the green light to further development, so it must not be allowed to go ahead.  Nor, of course, can we afford to lose any more space.  

Conservative Group News Release

1^st May, 2012

Call for Lib Dems to Retract Untrue Statements in Election Leaflets

Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council, has called on Lib Dems to withdraw untrue statements about the County Council printed in Election Literature being circulated by Lib Dems in Eastleigh

He Says, “I have been handed copies of electioneering literature being widely circulated across Eastleigh Borough that wrongly accuses the Conservative run Hampshire County Council of a number of things including, trying ‘to build 6.000 more houses around Hedge End and Botley’, “axing youth services”, “threatening Children Centres” and “cutting bus passes”. This is all totally untrue. The literature also wrongly accuses the County Council of wanting to sell land, it does not own at Tan House Lane, Botley, for housing development.

These allegations are clearly being made in an attempt to mislead the electorate into voting for their candidates in the forthcoming Borough Elections and unless they immediately retract these statements and deliver these retractions to every household in the Borough that has received them before polling day, I shall have no alternative but to refer the matter to the Electoral Commission for their adjudication.”

Notes to Editors:

Faced with reduced Government funding, soaring inflation and increased demands for its services Hampshire County Council has taken £100 million out of its overhead expenditure by restructuring its corporate administration and merging departments, introducing home-working and disposing of 45 office buildings to preserve all essential services and increasing the budget for Adult care by £11 million over the past two years

.

The 6,000 houses around Hedge End referred to ,were proposed by Eastleigh Borough Council supported by the Partnership for South Hampshire (PUSH) the local planning authority, adopted by the SEERA (South East England Regional Authority) and included in the Governments South East Plan for Eastleigh. Later after a storm of local protest Eastleigh Borough Council withdrew its support for its proposal for the 6,000 housing development at N/NE Hedge End.

The County Council’s Support for Youth Services in the Borough approaches £¼ million, with an increase of £18,000 this year with a cash commissioning budget of £182,000 plus £31,000 for a community development facilitator and £25,000 for a youth worker. The  Borough Council took a lead role with Hampshire County  Council in how the various youth projects in the Borough should be commissioned.

Rather than cutting bus passes the services previously withdrawn by the Borough Council have been reinstated by the County Council.

For more information please contact: Cllr Ken Thornber 01962 847750