WHAT DOES THE WHITEHILL & BORDON COMMUNITY PARTY STAND FOR? UPDATED APRIL 2023:
The letter to our fellow residents from our Party Leader Andy Tree for 4 May 2023 local elections can be viewed here: http://www.whitehillbordon.org.uk/letter.pdf
| HEALTH SERVICES ARE A NUMBER 1 PRIORITY!
Above at Chase Hospital: Our town council candidate Yee Gan Ong is an emergency medicine consultant and greatly enhances our group knowledge on NHS workings.
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We have always supported Chase Community Hospital and challenged the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to honour the 2013 Chase Charter, supporting additional investment and not closure. Our member James Brand launched a petition in 2018. Extra beds are now being provided in Alton Community Hospital and an urgent treatment centre was opened in Petersfield in 2021. We remain totally dismayed that we are overlooked here, while NHS services are increased elsewhere. We deserve better, especially with our growing population!
With regards to the proposed new Health Hub, our position is we need to see two things come forward as a matter of urgency which are the planning application itself which we can then scrutinise as a consultee (if we are re-elected to town council), and (2) 100% commitment from the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Southern Heath as to what services would actually be provided in it? Chase Hospital must not close unless there was a clear and guaranteed better replacement already open! Until such time ever comes, we expect the NHS to honour the 2013 Chase Charter and keep Chase Hospital open! |
We helped when residents could not find NHS dentists in the area. We did our own research to find two in Alton, also writing numerous letters to our MP and NHS about the issue. This an example of where we directly sought to be useful to help fellow residents by doing the ‘leg work!’ The commissioning of NHS density recently transferred to local NHS on 1 April 2023 and we will now lobby hard for them to make a difference to what is a serious national problem!
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TOWN CENTRE: We understand the Conservative ‘Liz Truss’ budget of last Autumn has dramatically affected the new Town Centre development in terms of rise cost of materials and cost of borrowing to build. To be clear, our policy would be that EHDC has a duty to financially support the Town Centre development and new supermarket, announced as Morrisons, if at any point it stalls or any part becomes ‘unviable’ to developers! EHDC has an investment portfolio around the country and so has the capability to support us locally and we would very much push for them to do so! We recognise that no council can force retail chains to come here, but they must use everything possible to make this an attractive place for shops to come, as we deserve a proper Town Centre. There also needs to be joined-up thinking with how to support the Forest Centre area. | |
| We support free parking to encourage the growth of the new Town Centre. We believe it was irresponsible for the Conservative EHDC Assitant portfolio holder for Whitehill & Bordon to claim during the pandemic and just before the May 2021 local elections (where he stood as a candidate) that a cinema was still coming, when it was not offered and confirmed. We want to see a banking hub which could support multiple bank and link to post office services. | ||
| SPORTS FACILITIES: We propose EHDC needs to urgently revisit its entire sports and pitches strategy, as our population grows. Long term established Wey Valley Football Club should be supported, as should the new Whitehill & Bordon Football Club in securing a long-term ground. Thankfully, the new swimming pool was eventually built and opened in 2020, after Andy Tree lobbied hard in 2014, at a time when EHDC was considering building a larger pool in Alton that we would have to travel to, instead of replacing Mill Chase and Garrison pools! Some battles can be won! |
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Andy Tree lobbied hard for this pool!SUPPORTING YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES
We have used town council grants and county cllr grant scheme to support youth projects at Forest Community Centre and our local schools. If elected to EHDC, we can use the additional local cllr grants for our community as well! We will also promote the EHDC ‘supporting communities fund’ and lobby for a greater share for Whitehill, Bordon, Lindford and Greatham. EHDC gave £17,500 to Alton’s BMX Pump Track yet in Bordon it is the town council made up of our group that is looking after our Bordon Skatepark and seeking freehold ownership to protect it for the long-term.
Andy Tree originally proposed and hosted the town council’s Whitehill & Bordon Community Awards, which has evolved into a successful annual event, recognising the achievements of local adults and young people.
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GREENSPACES: There is much concern over the loss of Greenspace due to development. I am very proud to see we have vowed to protect Greenspace under our town council control, including Deadwater Valley Local Nature Reserve and Bordon Inclosure. We put in place improved 10 year service agreements for the local Deadwater Valley Trust (DVT) charity to manage these areas, to avoid expensive tendering processes every few years and allow them to plan ahead for the benefit of residents. We want to find a resolution to the flooding at Mill Chase recreation ground, which started, with the installation of a pumping system after being elected in 2019.
We are disappointed that the previous Conservative-majority town council (prior to our group winning May 2019 town council election) did not tender for a lease to manage Hogmoor Inclosure and we will fight for a ‘seat at the table’ with any future owner, to strive to ensure local people are represented and there is democratic accountability. |
Our candidate Linda DelvePOLICE & CRIME
We have a proven track record in having arranged multiple Q&A meetings with the Police for the public to attend with the theme of making our community safer – most recently in March 2023. We believe that the public need to see a visible police presence to give confidence. The elected Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner has made a commitment to having a front desk police station in Petersfield, supported by EHDC, as they would share a building EHDC owns. The Commissioner via her office has also confirmed an aspiration to have a front desk police station in Alton, without any mention of Whitehill & Bordon having one, even after I asked specifically asked her office about it in March. This is a clear example of the local Conservatives making a pledge to support Petersfield and appealing to Alton over us, just before the local elections! Our fellow residents must feel safe and we want to reassure all local voters – including those who usually support another party nationally, that Whitehill & Bordon Community Party members have got your back locally!
| When it was clear the on-demand ‘VOCA’ transport plans that were announced by the EHDC Conservatives just before May 2021 local elections to run “6am to midnight, 7 days a week including Xmas day!” had stalled, we took it upon ourselves to do some research to find a solution. We introduced the Regeneration Company to Waverley Hoppa and are pleased to say that discussions have progressed into a proposal. Our job now is to lobby Hampshire County Council to treat our community fairly and fund it, especially as we have no train station and would like to see it become a raillink bus. We will push hard to ensure the local Conservatives do not let us down again, as they have done with VOCA. We will work with those ‘in power’, to deliver. We should have a train station!
LOCAL BUSINESSES We recognise that local businesses are and should be the ‘beating heart’ of our local economy, and will strive to support them where we can. We support having a strong relationship with the local SiGNAL business hub, as it strives to help small-to-medium sized local businesses. We will support our Town Mayor attending and promoting local business initiatives and events that directly benefits residents. We believe any business that can prove a trading loss due to the current high street/chalet hill ‘arrival square’ roadworks, should be compensated with a rates relief/rebate.
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TRANSPORT
Above: Catherine Clark and Bisi Kennard wait for a bus in Bordon…! |
COUNCIL TAX AND BUDGET
We froze the town council share of council tax for last two years running, after balancing the books and stabilising the town council after we won 2019 election. Our concern about EHDC services is whether Conservatives truly have a grip. For example, saying we should share staff with Havant Borough Council and then a year later u-turning does not create confidence. A lot of chaos seems to have resulted, such as endless missed bin collections and slow responses to local matters. Our candidate Mike Steevens is the ‘Simon Cowell’ of scrutinising funding requests from organisations! Even where the money is for good uses, it is only right that the use of public (your!) money is checked thoroughly and fairly!
LOCAL PLAN AND HOUSING
We believe the entire local plan consultation from EHDC was flawed. To expect residents to read so many documents before giving a view was simply not reasonable or fair. We understand the dilemma that government housing targets gives EHDC, especially when much of the district is in South Down National Park. However, our job is to stand up for our community. Andy Tree was quoted by the Bordon Herald as being in a ‘fury’ over a plan to build 1300 extra houses and we must NOT become a ‘dumping ground’ to satisfy quotas, especially without the required infrastructure and facilities.
WORKING FOR OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY
We were elected to our Town Council in May 2019 and much of what we have achieved and worked on has been across Whitehill & Bordon. We also stand up for Lindford with Andy Tree as our elected County Councillor for Whitehill, Bordon and Lindford and we seek to use our experience to work for Greatham too.
LINDFORD
We continue to build relations with Lindford’s Independent Parish Council with Andy Tree attending their meetings, providing reports and also County Cllr grant money that included Christmas Decorations. We would further enhance this, if our candidate Penny Flux (who lives in Lindford) is elected. We fully understand that Lindford is independent of Whitehill and Bordon, but we want to ensure that while respecting this independence, Lindford’s views are not excluded or left out and we will fight to ensure the voice of Lindford residents is loud!
Above: March llitter pick organised by Adeel Shah in Greatham, following multiple litter picks organised by us as town cllrs in Whitehill & Bordon and Andy Tree previously also helping with a Parish Council organised litter pick in Lindford. |
GREATHAM
Our Greatham candidate Kirsty Mitchell is a Greatham Primary School parent and her running mate Mike Steevens has attended meetings over development in Greatham, such as the ‘Apple Pie’ development. As Leader of Whitehill & Bordon’s Town Council, Andy Tree has made previously made contact with Greatham Parish Council, seeking to discuss areas of mutual interest with Whitehill & Bordon. We understand Greatham has the same concerns as Whitehill & Bordon about inappropriate developments. |
| USEFUL LINKS / FORMER PUBLICATIONS | |
The Whitehill Council (made up of our party members) most recent community magazine published in early March can be read here (this link will take you outside of our website): https://www.whitehilltowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/WTC-Community-Magazine-March-2023-FINAL.pdf
Our election leaflet for 6th May 2021 County Council election was delivered across Whitehill, Bordon and Lindford and an electronic copy can be opened by clicking on this link: Hampshire County Council election 2021
A key principle of the Whitehill & Bordon Community Party is that members of our group are free to express an INDEPENDENT opinion and REPRESENT YOU in good conscience, without having to worry about following instructions from national party bosses! However, we stand together under common policy principles of which we all believe in.
OUR PLEDGE TO YOU
“We pledge to try and achieve results for our community by working constructively with councillors of all parties and on all levels, but to never shy away from fighting your corner if we feel Whitehill, Bordon, Lindford or Greatham are being short-changed!”