Liberal Democrat Councillors have prevented the ruling Conservative group from scrapping the free swimming initiative at all the council run leisure centres in the New Forest District.

The Tory Cabinet Member for Leisure, Cllr Di Brooks, had decided to scrap the scheme following a government announcement that the annual subsidy to cover the cost, some £110,000, would cease. The decision would have meant that under 17’s and over 60’s would be charged once again for swimming.

In an unusual move, Councillor David Harrison, the Liberal Democrat opposition spokesman for Leisure has “Called-In” the decision. This effectively means it cannot be implemented until a formal review of the decision has taken place involving other members of the council.

Cllr. Harrison says “I think that Cllr Brooks has made an unnecessary, knee jerk reaction to the news from the government. It is possible to save the free swimming for some of the time by finding money from elsewhere in council budgets or even commercial sponsorship. At the very least, I’m hoping my move will mean free swimming for the under 16’s during the school summer holidays”.

Councillor Harrison has been supported by Councillor Maureen Robinson, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat group. Cllr. Robinson says “Since free swimming was introduced the number of swims has increased by about 20% and had other important spin-offs, including greater usage of other council run sporting facilities and improved public health. I’m pleased the conservatives will be forced to look at this again”.

The ruling Tory group on New Forest District Council have come under fire for failing to designate Eling Wharf as a polluted site.

At a meeting of New Forest Council this week, Councillor David Harrison, the member for Totton South blasted the ruling Tory group for adopting a softly, softly approach. He said “This is a seriously contaminated site. Whilst no weapons of mass destruction have been found, all sorts of toxic chemicals have been, including arsenic and cyanide. The site is polluted and should be designated as such.”

The District Council has declined to designate the site, preferring to work with the land owner, Burt Bolton Holdings who have agreed to organise a clean-up. They defended the decision saying that they had received legal advice from a top lawyer which suggested this was the best way forward.

Councillor Harrison was scornful of the decision saying “I recall the last time the District Council hid behind legal advice, - it led to the loss of about £300,000 of taxpayer’s money on the slippery floor case {prompting Tory groans}. Lawyers advice but Councillors decide. I have no confidence that this company will now behave responsibly; we should designate this land for what it is….. a heavily polluted area”.

New Forest District Council has granted planning permission to allow the Asda store at Totton to expand.

The conservative controlled authority went against officer advice to reject the scheme.
The shopping area will grow larger and the plans also allow for a one-storey car parking area, increasing the car parking capacity.

Totton Councillor David Harrison opposed the application. He says “It’s a sorry day for Totton. The District Council has a corporate aim to improve the health of residents and improve air quality. Effectively, the members on the planning committee have ignored my reminder that more car parking spaces will mean more traffic pollution in a designated Air Quality Management Area”.

The South East Public Health Observatory has just published a health summary which shows how the health of the people living in the New Forest District compares with the rest of England.

Details of all the data (very detailed) can be found on the website www.healthprofiles.info

The two most striking areas of concern for the New Forest are road injuries and deaths and the incidence of skin cancer, malignant melanoma.

I do feel rather vindicated by my actions in recent years. I have campaigned vigorously for safety improvements and have been successful particularly in getting investment into the A326 and Marchwood village.

I also feel very pleased that my long running campaign, to get the sun-beds removed from all our Health & Leisure Centres, was eventually successful. Of course, we may never really know how many local people who suffered the skin cancer did so through exposure to council run sun-beds. The important point is that the risk has now been removed.

In view of the latest information, I’m now going to be pressing for the Environmental Health Officers on the New Forest District Council to tighten up on commercial operators in the area. I hope actually, that they all go out of business – if you visit the various cancer charity web-sites, you quickly learn that there is really no such thing as a “healthy tan”.

The majority of Councillors, whether parish, district or county members, rarely (if ever), attend national conferences. I’m one that does. I find I get a lot from them. I’m always rooting around for ideas and wanting to know what the future holds. One of the best ways to achieve this, is to attend the Local Government Conference. This year, I was able to ride my motorcycle down to Bournemouth for the 3 day event.

Conferences always tend to have a mood, sometimes exaggerated by the press and other media. The conference this year was a mixture of excitement and grim foreboding, partly reflecting your political allegiances.

As a Liberal Democrat, I fall mainly into the category of excitement. The General Election result threw up a very unexpected outcome. Even now, I find it hard to believe that my party is in coalition with the Conservatives. Having always been in opposition, we now are part of the government, with Cabinet Ministers charged with running the country at a time of deep financial and economic problems.

Eric Pickles MP, the new Minister for Communities and Local Government attended. He has a rather brusk, almost sinister personality. He spelt out that there would be far less money for local government in future years. Savings would have to be made and tough decisions lie ahead about which services should be cut. If there is a positive, he is letting local councils decide where the axe will fall by decentralising power whilst cutting red-tape wherever he can.

Karren Brady, (formerly of Birmingham City FC and now Vice Chairman of West Ham United and star of “The Apprentice”) gave an inspiring speech about leadership, emphasising how important it is to get your staff believing in what you are doing and that they understand the bigger picture.

I enjoyed a session called “Hidden Talent – Getting the most out of our young people”. Contributors were Martina Milburn, Chief Executive of The Prince’s Trust and Debbie Scott OBE, Chief Executive of Tomorrow’s People. Both organisations have enjoyed stunning success over many years, helping young people, giving them opportunities that have turned their lives around.

Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change addressed conference on how the new coalition government is already working towards an ever greener agenda, dealing with issues such as energy security, reducing carbon emissions and helping people live in a more sustainable way.

An old political rival of mine, John Denham MP, now Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, spoke on the final day of conference. Unsurprisingly, he contended that a lot of cuts in government spending were too deep and too quick and reminded us that Labour are still running lots of councils, now faced with the task of implementing the cuts.

As you do, I seized the chance, during a very brief question and answer session, to remind John that for all his assertions about allowing local people to decide local issues, that he had failed to intervene when in government to stop the Strategic Health Authority (an unelected, unaccountable quango) from imposing fluoride in tap water in my area.
Conference was wrapped up by a speech from Michael Gove MP, the new Education Minister. This was a particular surprise because he is extremely busy, having announced only this week that some 700 “Building Schools for the Future” projects will not go ahead and then having to apologise profusely for getting the list wrong. There were a lot of Councillors in the audience who were very angry that their local council had spent thousands of pounds, in some cases millions of pounds, preparing for projects only to see it dropped at the last hurdle.

His tone was altogether different from Mr Pickles at the start of the conference, apologetic, acknowledging what an important role we have, nice words about his coalition partners, the Lib Dems. He did get polite applause from the, mostly conservative, audience. However, I was amused to watch him almost run out of the building hotly pursued by a scrum of journalists and television cameramen, all wanting a further quote from him.

Perhaps the greatest value of conference is that you get to mix with other councillors from around the country. It’s very interesting to swap experiences and to hear about some of the heroic successes and spectacular calamities that have happened elsewhere. I have a few things in mind that I want to see implemented in my area as a result.

The new grass cutting regime on the glebe fields at Goatee beach, Eling is being hailed a spectacular success by local councillor David Harrison.

In the past, Totton Town Council used to cut the grass all to the same length. However, this prompted complaints from people who wanted to use the area for recreational reasons, often picnickers who wanted to play impromptu games of cricket, rounders or football, (because the grass was often allowed to grow a bit too long).

Nowadays, council employees allow large areas at the back of the glebe fields to grow long grass, but cut other areas more frequently. Long serving Councillor David Harrison is delighted with the result. He says “Every one is a winner under this new cutting regime. The sporting types get better facilities whilst amongst the longer grass, all sorts of wildflowers are becoming established. In time, this will also help attract more wildlife, including butterflies and birds.

Councillor Harrison says “This new grass cutting policy is a great success. I’m hoping that we can extend the idea to other areas where there are still some green still spaces left in the town”.

Eling Wharf in Totton throws up some serious challenges. It is an employment site, but somewhat under utilised. The main access is via The High Street, a source of great irritation for those living in the area who have to suffer the noise and vibration from HGV movements at all times of the day and night.

Worse than this though, is the growing evidence that much of the land is seriously contaminated by chemicals and poisonous metals. It could be so bad that it might just be too expensive to put right, making the land permanently blighted as a potential residential area. I understand that construction on the site may not be possible because any piling might release poisonous metals into the nearby Eling Quay.

I understand that a report to the Cabinet at New Forest District Council will be making recommendations in July this year. For my part, I think that robust legal action should be taken against all potential culprits, the companies who used this site when this contamination occurred. I would not be unduly surprised if all the different companies deny responsibility. However, it should not be too hard to work out which businesses were likely to have used which chemicals and sue all of them, leaving a judge or negotiations to determine how liability is shared.

The true loss to the community may run into millions of pounds, either through the safe disposal of contaminated material (if that is possible) or the blighting of a potential prime site for housing.

Asda Stores Ltd have resubmitted a fresh planning application to New Forest District Council. The mammoth retailer wants to expand the Maynard Road Store in Totton by 1,250 square metres. It involves construction of a single storey deck car-park to accommodate more car parking spaces.

I am opposed to the application and am disappointed that some of my fellow District Council colleagues take a different view.

There are two really important reasons why Asda should not be given the permission to go ahead with their expansion plans.

Firstly, it must be clear to anyone who knows Totton that the store has pretty much sucked all of the retail business out of the town. Very few of the smaller shops have managed to compete with Asda and the massive advantage it has of a large central location and bulk buying power. Asda used to be purely a food retailer. However, as it has extended the range of items it sells, most of the smaller businesses have lost trade and have either gone bust or really struggle to survive. I don’t think it would be good for Totton if all we have left is one superstore with estate agents and a handful of charity shops.

Secondly, there is the issue of air quality. The Store itself adjoins an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), in Junction Road. The District Council has a legal duty to monitor and take effective action to reduce pollution in the area which arises because of exhaust emissions from traffic. It must be very clear that permitting more car-parking and attracting more traffic to the area will only worsen the situation. Furthermore, it is actually a corporate objective of New Forest District Council to reduce pollution and improve air quality, (something some of the local conservative Councillors seem to have forgotten)!

Asda are, of course, offering a few “carrots” in the hope of gaining permission, including the planting of a few trees, a £89,770 contribution towards highway improvements and the promise of additional jobs. Sorry guys…… I’m not Anti-Asda but this isn’t a plan that would benefit Totton. As a locally elected Councillor, I need to judge these things on what is best for the town as a whole.