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:
