Martin Tod
Alresford Liberal Democrats
Winchester Liberal Democrats

April 2009

If you signed the ‘save our loos' campaign, then thank you. It was successful! It has been agreed that the toilets will remain open all year round, at no extra cost to Alresford residents. The sway of public opinion was huge and you are to be congratulated for taking the campaign to your hearts (or should it be bladders?)

We have had four thatched homes destroyed by fire recently and our sympathies go to the victims of these fires. If you have a thatched home or there is one near you, the Fire Service is happy to give advice. You can contact them by phone on 02380 644 000 or via the website.

I have also visited the Fire and Rescue Service and was impressed by both the retained and permanent fire staff. Alresford has vacancies for more part time firefighters- you can contact me for details or the web site

The Children and Young People's Plan to 2012 has now been agreed. It has a wide range of aspirations, but despite all the bad press, the Winchester district is claimed to be 21 st in the country for ‘happiness'. If you would like to see it, please contact me or go to my website for the link.

The announcement of the National Park is of great interest across the area. It covers land from the east of Abbotts Barton, skirting along the M3, (but not Alresford, or north of the old railway line above the Itchen Valley ) and will be in place by Spring 2011. We await further announcements but inevitably it will mean a greater planning pressure on areas not in the National Park.

A number of Parishes have identified possible footway (a path next to a road) links. If you have an idea for a section of footpath in your area, please let me or your Parish Council know as soon as possible.

Hampshire has been acknowledged as a four star authority- this is a real credit to staff, many of whom may be reading this. We all hear so much about ‘milking the system'. Most staff I know are genuinely concerned for residents-thank you from us all.

Winchester City Council puts up council house rents by over 6%. After poor management of the money, the Housing Account is in debt, so Winchester has made the decision to raise rates way above inflation.- just too high in the country’s current financial position.

Housing Association service charges rose too. Housing Associations must look at keeping the service charges down, and raise the quality of service given if they want tenant support. More of the Councillor’s post bag is filled with complaints from residents about their Housing Association. Each complaint adds to the picture. Across the district we can see which associations aren’t performing for residents. City Councillors are taking up the issues.

Still no sign of £1 million at the city (WCC advised by Butlers - the Tory treasurers company) and the £7m at the County - under the management of Bernard Madoff.

Strimmers or Computers

‘We want more workers with strimmers, not more IT' says County Councillor Jackie Porter.

Jackie was horrified to see the HCC report, due to be approved next week, to deal with better maintenance of the footpaths network across Hampshire.

‘We spend so much time working with Parish councils, walkers and residents to keep our paths up to scratch, but it's an uphill battle.

I even dragged HCC's Deputy Director out on a morning's walk around East Stratton with Mrs Carter, a keen local walker, to show him the problems for rural Parishes.

Hampshire has excellent staff on the ground, but there are just too few of them.

The report doesn't suggest more staff with strimmers and hedge cutters, but more IT instead! This is madness! The report states that currently only a tiny fraction of the complaints are dealt with quickly, many items remain untouched for up to a year. This isn't good enough in a county where the rural footpath network is a jewel in the crown.

The better IT system is expected to lower the public's expectations of the way in which Hampshire will deal with the complaint.

‘We have already had the introduction of the 0845 system, which is more expensive for users than the old system, and more laborious. Perhaps they are hoping that more IT will put the public off complaining at all! ‘