Taking the County Council to task over cuts As the budget that funds care services for the elderly, disabled and socially excluded was being slashed by the County Council, despite them placing more and more funds into reserves, Liberal Democrat  Borough Group Leader, Cllr Gavin James attended a meeting with County Council officials over cuts […]

Once again, this year’s borough council election in Brookvale and Kings Furlong was a close race between Labour and the Liberal Democrat Focus Team as local campaigner, John Shaw cut Labour’s lead in the area down to just 69 votes. Liberal Democrat predictions that UKIP and the Conservatives could not win were proved right as those […]

Focus takes the fight to Tesco Early 2013 and the Focus Team was letting local residents know how they could speak at the planning enquiry hearing Tesco’s appeal against refusal of its planning appeal for a new store in Winchester Road. The Focus Team had already received survey responses from over 1,000 local residents which said […]

After years of building an economy based on financial wheeler dealing in a virtual reality world, it’s good to see the Government getting back to substantial investment in projects that are based in the real world. The coalition Government has allocated over £4 million to fund the M3 Junction 6 and Black Dam roundabout improvements in Basingstoke, helping to reduce […]

The Councillor representing the part of Basingstoke with the least public open green space has expressed fears that new rules could make things worse. Brookvale and Kings Furlong Lib Dem Councillor John Shaw said:“I am very concerned that the central part of Basingstoke is particularly vulnerable to losing out on green infrastructure – the open […]

Liberal Democrats on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have slammed a shoddy deal which meant Conservative Councillors voting for a UKIP Councillor to Chair the Council’s Human Resources Committee while at the same time blocking all other opposition Councillors from Chairing the Authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees. Lib Dem Group Leader Councillor Gavin James said:“This […]

As a campaigning Councillor I’m object strongly to residents being slyly asked to back a big increase in the cost of a residents parking permit. Currently residents’ parking permits are £24, but a questionnaire is being sent to all households within the various Resident’s Permit Parking schemes in Basingstoke and Deane. This survey is meant to help […]

Only the Liberal Democrat Focus Team has an unbroken 15-year record of service and action for our local area. The Conservatives have forgotten about our community, just like Labour did when it was in government. While Liberal Democrats have proposed a proper maintenance schedule to stop the growing number of potholes in our local roads […]

Work’s due to start to improve pedestrian access along Alencon Link week commencing 22nd April. Make allowance if you’re driving to Houndmills, South View or Oakridge as it’s going to be one way only (southbound) for a while, with diversions signposted, so the work can be done safely. I recently attended the local police Neighbourhood Panel Meeting […]

You can follow recent debates on these issues at: http://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/browse/council-and-democracy/councillors-democracy-and-elections/webcasts/2013.htm Planning and Infrastructure Committee 12th March: discussed a detailed external report on how the Borough Council has calculated likely future housing need. At Housing and Environment Committee on 14th March, I spoke at the beginning of the meeting on local people’s concerns about residents’ parking charges. […]