SOLVE HUstings Meetings
16th and 23rd April 2011
SOLVE arranged two meetings for Borough Council Candidates in the May local
elections; Chineham on 16th April and Old Basing on 23rd April.
Attendance at the Chineham meeting was disappointing whilst at the Old Basing meeting over 50 people attended.
Chineham Meeting 16th April
Simon Brookes - Labour.
Was unable to attend and a statement was read out on his behalf.
He said Labour did not oppose all development. There needed to be the
right balance between rural and urban development. Most people do not
oppose development and our villages need small development agreed and supported
by a local community. Other policies include an end to urban cramming,
decent back garden sizes and development no go areas such as environmentally
sensitive land. We cannot have development imposed by the Council anymore
than it is imposed by the Government.
Martin Beirmann – Independent.
Was against Major Development Areas (MDA) in the Loddon Valley.
He was not against development and suggested a revisit of the Manydown
proposals. It was better to plan and have more say rather than have
development imposed by Government. He pointed to a meeting between a Government
Minister and house builders’ representatives where the government told them they
had a target to build 450,000 houses per year in the UK.
John Downs – Conservative.
Was totally against “Mass” development anywhere in the Borough.
The infrastructure and water/sewerage was unable to cope. He favoured
smaller developments, some villages would welcome this including affordable
housing. He said that the community is at peace with itself and massive housing
growth would destroy this. Despite the Government and Borough growth
agenda he thought that economic growth could be treated separately.
At Old Basing Meeting 23rd April
Liberal Democrat, Emily Lawrence, and Labour, Lesley Clarke, candidates were
unable to attend for health and family health reasons. Representatives
from their parties John Shaw, Lib Dem, and Paul Harvey, Labour, gave statements
and answered questions.
Liberal Democrats - In his statement Shaw said the sites
east of Basingstoke should not be on the agenda and could have been taken out of
the SHLAA. But the Tories had hidden behind this Officer led document and
voted to keep them in along with other contentious areas. The Liberal
Democrats had voted to get them removed. He did not believe the spin that
these areas would not necessarily be developed as well financed Developers will
push for these sites. The LDF should be in place by January 2012, this
will be late and we are vulnerable to development. Shaw said no
infrastructure no development.
In answer to a question he said that they did not oppose all development just MDAs, many villages and communities welcomed small developments and that a robust Council plan should help control development going ahead without the necessary infrastructure.
Labour - Paul Harvey read out a statement on behalf of the
labour candidate, Lesley Clarke. There were remarkable similarities to the
statement read out at the Chineham meeting. They opposed MDA’s. The
SHLAA was a material consideration and he agreed with Shaw that the Tory
majority had failed to protect these sites in the SHLAA process. The Council
leadership is weak, all too often they allow the Officers to take over and had
failed to take responsibility.
He answered the accusation that there was a change in Labour policy away from the top down planning in their SE Plan. Harvey said the Labour plans were a plan for this council; all councils should work for their residents.
Harvey refused to give a housing figure saying this was meaningless pointing to recent figures which had been breached, 1300 plus a year in the past 3. Development should be in line with a neighbourhood plan. There was scope for regeneration in run down areas.
Steven Marks – Conservative. Said he had been a councillor
for 9 Years representing Old Basing. He said we must act professionally
when opposing plans and act within the law, new Government legislation is yet to
be approved. He stressed on several occasions that we did not need all these
houses in particular an MDA on Greenfield sites. Internal growth of the Borough
is around 800 people per year, births over deaths, and this does not support
massive housing growth. He was not anti growth but we should build what
was needed locally. He was surprised to hear the bottom up approach from
Labour.
Marks was questioned about his personal interest as a tenant farmer on the Kings
Fund land. He said he had declared his interest and had consulted the
Borough Solicitor who said he was able to vote on this issue. Marks said
his family had farmed this land for many years and he emphasised the importance
of continuing his family farm. However, he has so far declined SOLVE's help of
free legal advice to evaluate his legal rights under the terms of his lease.
(Note: SOLVE are familiarising themselves with all relevant legal issues.)
Both Labour and Lib Dem speakers had remarked on the SHLAA debate in which
the majority Conservatives Councillors had voted to keep all the disputed sites
in. Marks attempted to defend this but the Chairman, Clive Pinder from
SOLVE, intervened to say that SOLVE had disagreed with the Conservative view on
the P&IOSCOM. All the speakers praised local Councillors Cubitt and
Godeson for their roles in defending the interests of Old Basing.
Peter Bloyce, SOLVE
Photographs by Tony Tuck