Lucy, the Sad Story of the Budgie who Couldn't Fly

This is 4 year old Lucy, with Elder Wu, a Chinese missionary elder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Christmas Day.

She was sold to us  at a knockdown price in 2009 because she was very bedraggled and could never be used for breeding or exhibiting.  She was the replacement for a budgie that had died from a very large tumour and had been the companion of a cock bird.  We had been given this pair some years earlier by a lady who was going to take them to the vet as her son had become allergic to them. 

We therefore gave them a home. The problem was that they weren't tame, unlike a previous bird I had had in my youth, and wouldn't come to us, although we let them out whenever we could.  Lucy, on the other hand, was tame but we soon discovered that she couldn't fly. 

To begin with, she would come out regularly but she soon became frightened as she just flopped onto the floor, so she took to just sitting in her cage, only venturing beyond her cage once every few months.  And neither would she eat her greens, but lived only on birdseed - and millet spray - which can be quite fattening.   

I noticed that leading up to Christmas she had been quieter but I didn't really attach any importance to it.

Despite the theft of my smartphone 12 days earlier, we were having a lovely Christmas.  We spoke by Skype to our son, who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Spain, and invited four missionary elders and a missionary couple to Christmas dinner. 

But Lucy somehow managed to get out of her closed cage, I think through a feeding tray, and flopped down onto the floor.  She squawked as I picked her up but was much more docile than usual.  After a while, we passed her around the table and here is Elder Wu, one of our two Chinese elders, entertaining her.

 

 

Then she flopped - and I lay her on some napkins for a bed and after a while tried to put her back in her cage on a perch, but she didn't have the strength so I put her on the floor of the cage.

Later last night, after taking the four missionaries home, I rang a friend who is a vet, while Lucy lay in my hand.  He said I should give her heat by putting her in a cardboard box with holes in it and putting her in the airing cupboard. 

 
However, she died in my hands before I could do that.

 
The consolation is that if she had stayed in the aviary she would have been pecked to death by the other birds, whereas we gave her a loving home.  As the runt of the litter she was never strong, and as she couldn't fly she just couldn't get the exercise all birds need.  So getting on for 5 years isn't really too bad.

 
You might say I've had a rotten Christmas, but that's not true!! Although I was robbed of my brand new smartphone, and at the moment can't afford the £50 excess payable before I can replace it, and the budgie died on Christmas day, it doesn't change what we are celebrating:
The birth of a baby who went on to atone for the sins of the world.

"Peace can come to all who choose to walk in the ways of the Master. His invitation is expressed in three loving words: "Come, follow me.""

—Russell M. Nelson, "Jesus the Christ--Our Prince of Peace"
So Lucy has gone to the budgie spirit world but we must be thankful for all that we have.

And in particular we must be thankful that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in now on the earth and is to be found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 Of course, I am anxious for the police to track down the youths who robbed me, particularly as they could target someone much frailer than I am, so await news from them, but it's worth pointing out that frontline police are being reduced all the time, when it's bureaucracy that needs to be cut.

A New Type of Accident Scam

Accident Scam in Southsea

DON’T GET OUT OF YOUR CAR

 

This is a warning to motorists about an accident scam that happened to me in Southsea.  And some advice:  If in doubt DON’T GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!

 

The scam is to make you think you have injured a youth on a bike so he can get “compensation”.

 

This is how it happened:

At about 6pm I was crossing the junction of Telephone Road and Talbot Road, shown above, and had almost reached the other side, when the wheels of the car went over an object.   And at the same time there was shouting behind me.

 

I looked in my mirror and then stopped.  I saw three youths shouting that I had driven into them and that one of them had broken his ankle.  Fearing the worst, I jumped out of the car to see what had happened and saw youths between the ages of about 15 and 17 standing over a bike with a buckled front wheel.  They shouted at me that I had deliberately driven into them and that they wanted money.

 

Since there would be damage to the front of the car I had hit them , I tried to look – but they barred my way.  And one of them opened the door and took my ignition key.  While I tried to get that back the others were still screaming that they wanted compensation, and I was thinking “Someone please come.”

 

Someone did.  A middle aged lady in a black waist-length jacket and carrying a file of papers arrived.  She and I managed to recover my ignition key, but the  youths were still screaming that I had broken the ankle of one of them, so  I told them that since he said he had been injured I would have to phone the police.

 

And here I made a big mistake.  I got out my phone – a brand new Samsung Galaxy S4 - and started to dial 999.  But the tallest youth grabbed it out of my hand and after little more than a minute the ankle was miraculously healed and they ran off. 

 

I then borrowed the lady’s phone and called the police who were on the scene within 2 minutes.  About ten minutes later the police reported a drugs deal just a very short distance from where this scam accident had taken place, and the description of the youths involved fitted those involved in this scam. 

 

Although the lady who arrived on the scene was able to give a full description of the youths to the police, as yet I have heard nothing further. However, it would appear that my phone was used as payment to the drug dealer.  

 

In hindsight, I can see that I should never have got out of the car.  There was no damage to it so the youths must have thrown something under the car so the rear wheels went over it.  The advice has to be the same as in South Africa: stay in the car, lock the doors and phone the police. 

 

The photo taken just after the scam shows a completely clear road with no debris, so we have no idea what they threw under the car.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find out who the kind lady was and I'd really like to thank her.  It happened on Friday 13th December at about 6.05pm.

Why Voting Conservative Tomorrow Makes Sense

Hampshire County Council has  an excellent record:

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 WE HAVE 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.

UKIP say many of the right things BUT THEY HAVE NO LOCAL POLICIES.  They suggest that by putting them in power in Hampshire they will miraculously be able to halt immigration.

There are some who say this is the time for a Protest Vote.

I, too, am dismayed by the ambitions of the European Union and its tightening grip on our daily lives. Unless we can return many of its powers to the United Kingdom, I shall have no option but to vote for our withdrawal when the time comes. I am equally opposed to Same Sex Marriage and open door immigration. However, we should remember that the County Council has no power over the EU or immigration, so to vote for a party concentrating on these issues could rob you of an excellent Conservative County Council for four years by splitting the vote in the forthcoming County Council Elections.

This County Council Election must be about GROWING HAMPSHIRE’S ECONOMY WHILE CARING FOR ITS PEOPLE

The LibDems make many false accusations about the Conservative run council but:

Hampshire County Council has an income of £900 million with borrowing of £500 million.

Eastleigh Borough Council, on the other hand, has an income of £12 million while borrowing an enormous £100 million.

AND EASTLEIGH INTEND TO INCREASE THAT BORROWING BY £12 MILLION in order to move the civic offices into Eastleigh centre with the following consequences:

·         It will cause massive congestion

·         Make parking more difficult for visitors

·         This will cause the continued decline of  the retail sector, with more shops closing.

·         The likelihood of the development of the existing site and, very possibly, the development of part of Fleming Park.

One of the most important  duties of  our councillors is to explain how they are spending our money.

So how did Eastleigh Borough Council explain the above this year?

The Lib Dem leader, Keith House, spared exactly FIFTEEN SECONDS of his valuable time to explain it: not enough time to explain how he was saddling them with debts of £112 million.

 Godfrey Olson, the Conservative opposition leader, proposed using a little of the income from parking charges to give up to 30 minutes free parking to encourage shoppers back to the centre; but it was ridiculed by the LibDems.

DON’T LET THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS GET HOLD OF HAMPSHIRE

Tempting as it may be to vote UKIP tomorrow it could so easily let the LibDems in.

Remember the by-election?

Why You Should Vote for Me Tomorrow

A reminder why you should vote for me tomorrow:

I have, for some time, been involved in the local community and should now like to make a more positive contribution. The County Council elections on May 2nd give me that opportunity.

I am already getting things done:

MICHAEL READ HAS SUCCESS WITH MUDDY SHAKESPEARE ROAD BUS STOP

Flooding at a bus stop at the eastern end of Shakespeare Road, that was causing considerable inconvenience to residents, had not been reported.  But as soon as I reported it to the County Council they took action and issued the following statement:

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. 

If elected I will:

• ·         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.
• ·         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.

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.

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:

Push Me Pull You

So this is what we've got as a LibDem Member of Parliament:  Mike Six Taps Thornton - a man whose solution to save our open spaces is to build on them.

As I said several posts ago, a vote for UKIP would let in the LibDem; and that's exactly what has happened.

We need to remember that the LibDem Eastleigh Borough Council has debts of £100m and only £12m revenue.

It should also be remembered that the Eastleigh Borough Council has facilitated the concreting over of Eastleigh Recreation Ground and that Councillor Mike Six Taps Thornton MP was one of those who refused to discuss at a full council meeting a motion proposed  by Councillor Judith Grajewski to protect the Rec in perpetuity.  It was, instead, referred to the Local Area Committee.

Councillor Grajewski’s motion read as follows:

“This Council resolves to retain all of the remaining land (as at 18th October 2012) known as the Leigh Road Recreation Ground for the amenity and recreational use of the residents of Eastleigh and visitors to the Borough. This Council will resist all moves to develop any of the land for residential, commercial or other purposes deemed not to be recreational and in keeping with the present character of the facility”

Surprise Surprise!

After a discussion, however,  Cllr Mo Sollitt announced she wished to propose an amendment – this was met with groans and mock surprised “ahhs!” from the public gallery.

Although Mo Sollitt’s amendment contained the words “Leigh Road Recreation Ground” it appeared everything else in the original motion had been changed .

Cllr Sollitt’s amendment:

“This committee considers that Leigh Road Recreation ground brings significant recreational, economic and amenity benefits to the town and should therefore be given the maximum possible protection from hostile planning applications and asks that the head of Regeneration and Planning Policy considers how the protection given by the emerging local plan can be strengthened.”

This was then unanimously passed by the 100% complement of LibDem councillors.

Members of the public present at that meeting immediately cottoned to the wording hostile planning applications, as the Sainsbury's bid was far from hostile.  Any bid, therefore, that was approved by the LAC would be approved - so by this sleight of hand they have opened up the Rec to development.

Some years ago the town was referred to as Beastly Eastleigh.  It'll soon be appropriate again.

Mike Thornton, LibDem Candidate, still peddling untruths

In response to continuing Liberal Democrat accusations, it is necessary to put the record straight again.

Schools

Councillor Roy Perry says "Every child in Hampshire was offered a school place at the beginning of this term - well over 95% in a school of one of their 3 choices and almost 90% in their first preference.

 "There is no crisis, no shambles but there is a marked increase in the birth rate, and people moving into the area which is certainly increasing the pressure on school places.  Measures are in hand to increase school building over the next fifteen years so that there will continue to be no shortfall."

Police

Hampshire Police Authority state that there will be no reduction in front-line police officers.  Savings will be made by cutting bureaucracy.

Libraries

Regarding libraries, out of the 54 in the county, there will be no change in 17 of them and only an average reduction of 2.5 hours in the rest.  Two libraries will be run by the community because of a drastic decline in their usage over the last 5 years, North Baddesley by 33% and Stanmore by 50%.  The latter is used by only 3% of the population.

Buses

Bus services have been hit due to a 33% cut in the subsidy from central government, but council chiefs say they have made journeys to work, the shops and hospitals a priority. Council bosses have promised that no village or housing estate with a current bus service will be left without a public transport link.”
Despite LibDem claims to the contrary bus passes for the over sixties will NOT be affected.

Child Centres

4Children vision:

“for every child, in every community, to have the opportunities to realise their  potential – to learn, develop and be with friends – and for every parent to access the support they need to build a better future for their family”

This is what Hampshire County Council says:

We want to make sure that the funding cuts have as little effect as possible on the work children’s centres do with families, particularly those who need the services the most. The changes we are thinking of making would keep centres open and available for families everywhere to use.

To achieve this, we are proposing an approach that would:

·               Keep children’s centres open and accessible across the whole of Hampshire.

·               Take half of the savings out of the County Council’s central costs of running the children’s centre service.

·               As far as possible, protect staff who deliver children’s centre services directly to families - so that people who use the centres are affected as little as possible.

Keep enough managers across the centres to understand the needs of local families and to organise and supervise activities.

·               Reduce the costs of running the centres, for example allocating less money for travel and equipment. 

This is what Councillor Roy Perry said:

Commenting on the range of bids Councillor Roy Perry, Hampshire County Council's Deputy Leader and Executive Lead Member for Children's Services, said:

"I am delighted at the levels of response to the tendering process. We have had 17 bids involving at least 32 organisations with all clusters attracting more than one bidder.

"We have had significant interest from a range of local and national voluntary organisations and schools following the invitation to tender for the management contracts of up to 15 clusters of children centres. The centres will continue to deliver services through over 81 local centres and a variety of community-based venues."

In May the County Council approved the transfer of all its Children's Centres to third party management in a bid to secure the long-term future of Children's Centre services across the county and achieve savings in the wake of cuts in Government funding.

So don't believe the scaremongers!  The children's centres are safe.

More money is being spent to improve Adult and Children Services. No Children's Centres have been closed - all 81 of them are open and providing more services such as speech and language therapy.  

A Better Town Centre??

That remains to be seen.  Fortunately, Sainsbury's have withdrawn their plans for extending their store so at least the Rec and market are safe. 

But the LibDems are still intending to go ahead with their disastrous plans to move the civic offices into the town centre. There will be virtually no parking space and thus inaccessible not only to staff but also to those who need to visit the council offices.  Inevitably, it will have the effect of making parking for shoppers in the centre very much more difficult and lead to reduced trade for shopkeepers.  They intend to move from here:

 to here

at a cost of £12 million.  They say they'll recover £4 million by the redevelopment of the existing site.

Now that Sainsbury's have decided not to go ahead with their development, there is going to be a serious shortfall in parking for the proposed new council offices.

Maria Hutchings, Conservative candidate for Eastleigh 'has faith in Hampshire schools'

As reported in the Daily Echo

2:19pm Monday 18th February 2013 in NewsBy Luke Tugby, Reporter

Maria Hutchings and Theresa May

Conservative candidate Maria Hutchings says she has “full confidence” in Hampshire's education system.

Mrs Hutchings praised the county's schools after coming under fire for claiming that state education would not help her son become a heart surgeon.

As reported in today's Daily Echo, National Health Action Party candidate, Dr Iain MacLennan, labelled Mrs Hutchings' remarks as “disgraceful”.

But the Tory candidate explained her comments today, as she continued her by-election campaign by canvassing voters in Hedge End.

Speaking to the Daily Echo after visiting residents in Pudbrooke Gardens, Mrs Hutchings said: “I've got four children. I went to state school, my husband went to state school, my eldest daughter went to state school and my next child went to state school.

“My daughter is on the list for Wildern or Wyvern in September, so I have full confidence in the education here in Hampshire.

“My son is gifted - I needed to find the right place for him.

“When I was talking to the original journalist I was referring to when he was five years old. I couldn't find the right provision for where I was living at that time, not Eastleigh.

“I was telling the journalist that when my son was 12 years old, he had a careers talk and they had a cardio-respiratory surgeon come down and he said he wanted to be a cardio-respiratory surgeon. And it was nothing linked to state schools.

 “This is something that's been mish-mashed together by somebody else.

“The fact that I've my youngest daughter on the list for Wildern or Wyvern in September surely tells you what I think of local education here.”

Home Secretary Theresa May, who was on the campaign trail with Mrs Hutchings in Hedge End this morning, said: “Parents will always have to make decisions about what is right for their children.

“What we want to see across the whole of the state sector is ensuring that they are providing education that is right for every child and education that is rigorous.”

Mrs May also hit back at critics from opposition parties who claimed that Mrs Hutchings has not lived in the constituency for as long as she has suggested during her campaign.

She added: “Maria has been absolutely clear about how long she has lived here. I've just been standing on a doorstep with her and she said to somebody I've been here for five years.

“But what she has done over those five years is she has really fought for local people, she has campaigned with them on issues, she has worked with local charities, she has worked with local voluntary groups.

“She has shown that she is somebody who as a member of parliament would really care about Eastleigh, take on the issues of people here, and I think, be the best voice for Eastleigh.”