LibDems at it Again - Can you believe anything they say?

The LibDems Cannot deceive the voters for ever - they've 

been found out!

Mike Thornton, the LibDem candidate for the Eastleigh by-election, continues to declare that he is fighting to protect our countryside.  He states that he and his team are working to protect the land between our villages from development.

He also states that the LibDems have prevented the building of 6,000 houses by axing the last government's plans.
But the LibDem Council is the planning authority!!!

In fact, the LibDem Council replaced their own plans to build these 6,000 houses with plans to build a total of 9,400 houses in the borough  - on greenfield sites - and he was one of the councillors who voted for these plans!

And then there was this report over the weekend:

What larks in Eastleigh! As various Tory MPs have tweeted in identikit fashion, the Lib Dem candidate has today ‘fessed up to voting for 5,000 new homes to be built on previously undeveloped green space – and this despite campaign literature which warns that “countryside spaces between our towns and villages across the borough of Eastleigh are under new threat thanks to Hampshire Conservatives”. Grant Shapps puts it thus:

“The Lib Dems Eastleigh campaign is in turmoil. Their central promise to the people of Eastleigh is to protect the local area’s green spaces. But now their candidate has admitted that they will concrete over the countryside with their plans for 5,000 new houses on green field sites.

The Liberal Democrats cannot mislead the voters forever – they’ve been found out. Nick Clegg now needs to apologise for the Lib Dems’ totally inaccurate claims.”  

By Peter Hoskin

And this isn't all.

The same LibDem campaign literature continues to spin that Conservative run Hampshire County Council has spent either £40,000 or £43,000 - depending whether you read the front or the back of their leaflet - on "smart new offices". 

UNTRUE

The TRUTH is that Ashburton Court, the council offices in question, were in a very poor state of repair with the soil pipes totally unable to cope with the waste, abd the whole building in complete need of refurbishment.  So the Council, rather than building new offices which would have cost considerably more, refurbished Ashburton Court at a cost of £40.1m, and also closed down other offices altogether and enabled certain staff to work from home.

This is what the Royal Institute of British Architects said about the project:

The Elizabeth II Court project (formerly Ashburton Court) in central Winchester represents a groundbreaking transformation of a dilapidated 1960s office block into a modern, efficient and highly sustainable working environment for continued occupation by Hampshire County Council (HCC).

The building has traffic on three sides, restricted floor-to-floor to ceiling heights and most main elevations façades facing east and west, which are difficult to shade. The original building was also uncomfortable to occupy, suffering from overheating in summer and a huge heating requirement in winter.

The project presented an opportunity to create a benchmark addressing a universal challenge – the creative re-use of 1960s building stock.

Far from being a waste of resources it will bring great savings in the future and it would have cost far, far more to relocate.

The transformed building

Ther LibDems also accuse the council of spending £12,000 on TAPS if you please!
UNTRUE!!
The TRUTH  is that  for a mere £12,000 a modern, waste resistant water system was installed in this building.  To fit central heating in a 4 bedroom house would cost at least £3,500.

THE TRUTH is that in Conservative led Hampshire County Council we have one of the most efficient councils in the whole country.  It receives the third lowest Revenue Support Grant from the government yet its council tax is the fourth lowest.

This comes from efficiency savings, not from the cuts the LibDems would have us believe, and from growing our income.  Examples of these will come in future posts, which will also expose the true state of Eastleigh Borough Council.