Articles/Letters from Local Press
July 2009
Mr Roger Watkins of Friend Avenue Aldershot (the no party candidate in the County Council Elections for Aldershot East 2009) wrote a very long letter to The News published on the 18 April 2008 titled “The silent majority forced change“.
From parts of the letter I quote:-
This is the same man that is so in touch with the road network and community that he thinks that a little bit off fidling with the pavements around North Lane will pay dividends when all the community requires is a safe place to live and work.
This is where the community, the silent majority, have forced a change in the plans and persuaded Hampshire County Council to move the bus stop and allow extra parking. The original plans are still in place in the community centre.
Knowing just a little of the history of the local area, the sceptics among us find it must be debatable if he had any input into this upgrade at all.
The final comment:-
And incidentally, the not so silent majority will decide who they want to represent them on May 1.
- "the sceptics among us find it must be debatable if he had any input into this upgrade at all."
An interesting point but who had the input if it was not me?
Local Borough Councillors aren’t listened to by Hampshire County Council staff, they talk and listen to their County Councillors as you would expect.
Perhaps Mr Watkins should take a look at my Who To Talk To Page.
Referring to the No Party page of my web site
What did Hedy Brennan say?:-
"The sceptics amongst us find it most debatable if you are an independent at all, most likely a closet supporter of the Labour party."
- We quote from this article published in the Aldershot Mail on 31st July 2009 page 2:-
- "Mike Roberts, deputy leader of the Labour group at Rushmoor Borough Council, said: "I was concerned about what [materials] they were bringing in and where it's coming from and where the materials are going. That's just as important as what's going on on site. "I'm also concerned about the effect on the roads. We need to have all this clarified. If we don't know what's coming in, we don't know what the effects will be."
We Rushmoor Conservatives often complain about the biased shown in articles by The News Group (part of the Guardian Group) towards the Aldershot Labour party. In this article we see Cllr Roberts is quoted, note no other local Rushmoor politician?
How many people voted Labour in the last County Elections in Rushmoor?
Labour: 2,718
Conservative: 10,103Therefore you might have expected a quote from the Conservative Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council? Not available, maybe the Deputy Leader? What about the other 5 Rushmoor Hampshire County Councilor’s?
So out of 7 local Conservative Cllr’s not one is quoted, that does seem a little strange.
It is even more strange when you consider the political make up of Rushmoor Borough Council:-
Conservative: 29
Lib/Dems: 8
Labour 5.Yet no other point of view is voiced!
Maybe the Aldershot Mail would like to comment?
Planning applications are not made in secret, all the details for the above application are published on the web for all to see before it goes to committee.
You would of thought this newspaper article would also inform the public about the links to this information, they are:- look up hantsnet on your search engine search for planning applications with the reference number in this case 08/00806/HCC.
To be really helpful this news paper could also give you the direct link to this application which is www3.hants.gov.uk/planning/mineralsandwaste
In the 16 page report from officers to the HCC Planning Committee (Regulatory A) at paragraph 8.13 I quote:-
8.13 To conclude, it is considered that there is no justifiable planning reason to refuse the application. It is noted that no objections have been received to the application from the Environmental Health Officer, the Highway Authority, the Environment Agency or other technical bodies. Furthermore the impacts of the proposal can be mitigated and/or controlled by condition. It is further noted there is a clear need for such facilities.
So in answer to Cllr Roberts concerns, have they not been addressed by the professional opinion's of the various agency’s?