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.”

MARIA HUTCHINGS CALLS ON COUNCIL TO RE-THINK DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Sensible plans needed in order to protect our local communities

Local champion Maria Hutchings has led calls for the local Council to re-think it’s plans for large scale housing developments across Eastleigh and our villages.

Responding to plans to build almost 10,000 new houses across Eastleigh and surrounding villages, Maria said:

“I’ve worked alongside concerned local residents to put forward sensible alternatives to the plans drawn up by the Council. Everyone wants to see new family homes, but bulldozing over our green spaces is not way to do it.”

Hundreds of local people have contacted Maria to express their concern. Maria has been quick to challenge the Council’s “consultation”.

“We must fight these plans. I want to ensure that good quality family homes are built, especially for front-line public sector workers, the armed forces and those who have strong family links in Eastleigh, protecting our green spaces and excellent public services.”

Across Eastleigh there are thousands of empty dwellings and unused ‘brown field’ sites ready for new development.

Maria Hutchings has asked the Council to re-think these plans and listen to local people.

LibDem Wealth Taxes

This is another excerpt I have taken from Peter Hoskin in ConservariveHome:

And there’s another Lib Dem-related story that CCHQ has set about exploiting today: the Mail on Sunday splash about Team Clegg’s plans to extend wealth taxes into your jewellery box. According to the paper, the Lib Dem leadership is considering—alongside the introduction of a souped-up mansion tax—an idea to allow taxmen into people’s homes to value, and then slap levies across, assets such as necklaces and paintings. Admittedly, Vince Cable has since played down many elements of the story, but not before Tories across Twitter seized on it with alacrity and gratitude.

In truth, the Lib Dems’ general eagerness to tax wealth creates as much a conundrum for the Tory leadership as a target. Of course, it’s easy to strike out at any jewellery tax, but a stronger variety of mansion tax is a different matter altogether. As “one influential figure” suggests to James Forsyth, Labour's sympathy for such a levy could alter the balance of negotiations in the event of another hung parliament – meaning that “Cameron will have to fold and accept a mansion tax as the price of power.”

Myself, I think the Tories shouldn’t dismiss higher taxes on expensive properties out-of-hand – for reasons I've set out before. But this is hardly a possiblity that will cheer many party members.

Meanwhile Mike Thornton, the LibDem candidate, promises he will cut your tax bill!  

In fact, he can't.  We have a Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer and Maria Hutchings will support the policies to reduce taxation.

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.

John O'Farrell - Disappointment that Mrs Thatcher didn't die in Brighton bomb blast

Fury over 'moral reprobate' Labour candidate who wrote of disappointment that Mrs Thatcher didn't die in the Brighton bomb blast

From Mail Online

The Labour candidate in the crucial Eastleigh by-election said he wished Margaret Thatcher had been murdered in the IRA attack on Brighton’s Grand Hotel.

Left-winger John O’Farrell felt  a ‘surge of excitement’ when he heard of the attempted assassination in 1984 and was ‘disappointed’ the terrorists failed.

He asked himself repeatedly: ‘Why did she have to leave the bathroom two minutes earlier?’ The bathroom of Lady Thatcher’s suite was wrecked in the explosion. She had been in it shortly before the bomb went off.

Writing about Lady Thatcher, Mr O’Farrell said: ‘I would invent all sorts of elaborate scenarios whereby she would cease to be Prime Minister of Britain. Some involved a sombre deputation from the 1922 Committee  [of Tory MPs] and others involved me popping up with a machine-gun at the Conservative Party Conference. 

‘In October 1984, when the Brighton bomb went off,  I felt a surge of excitement at the nearness of her demise and yet disappointment that such a chance had been missed. 

'This was me – the pacifist, anti-capital punishment, anti-IRA liberal – wishing that they had got her. “Why did she have to leave the bathroom two minutes earlier?”  I asked myself over and over again.’

In the same book, published in 1998,  Mr O’Farrell made a similarly provocative statement on calls for Lady Thatcher to be given a state funeral. 

‘It would be far more appropriate to allow competitive bids from private companies to run the funeral arrangements: “And we now go over live to Westminster, where .  .  . we see the coffin respectfully borne on the shoulders of six part-time burger-flippers .  .  . before the private cremation when the body will be flame-grilled with gherkins and a slice of cheese.” Now that’s a funeral I would turn out for.’

'I would invent all sorts of elaborate scenarios whereby she would cease to be Prime Minister of Britain'

Five people died in the bomb attack, including Tory MP Sir Anthony Berry and Roberta Wakeham, wife of Tory Cabinet Minister Lord Wakeham.

Lord Tebbit told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Ed Miliband should repudiate this incontinently voiced moral reprobate who  tries to excuse murder as a weapon against those who won democratic elections time after time against the rag-bag remnants of a once great  Labour Party.’

Mr O’Farrell also  said he wished Lady Thatcher had lost the Falklands War in 1982,  in which 255 British servicemen died.  ‘I settle on the uncomfortable and convoluted position of wanting Great Britain  to lose the war for the good of Great Britain.  I was against the war, against people’s reaction to the war, even against the outcome of the war.’

A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘John made these comments many years ago and of course does not condone  or wish harm on anyone.’