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.

Demolition of the old incinerator at Marchwood has been delayed once again. This time, it is as a result of a kestrel nest discovered on the structure.

Local people will be very glad to see the back of the building, often described as the ugliest building in Hampshire. Unfortunately, the promised demolition of the building has been delayed several times and for different reasons.

Re-development of the site had previously been hampered by discovery that the land is contaminated. The proposed replacement building, a waste transfer station had to be re-designed. Further delays arose as a result of the entire project being re-tendered.

The latest set back will have delayed demolition for several weeks and will result in further costs to local taxpayers.

Councillor David Harrison, Hampshire County Councillor for Marchwood, has expressed frustration at the recent turn of events. He says “I have been pushing for demolition of this building for several years. I could not have anticipated this latest delay. Annoyed as I am, I did have to smile when I saw that the building is guarded by a company called Kestrel Security. I didn’t imagine that the company would use real birds!"

A great many people in my home town of Totton have expressed a keen interest in finding out what went wrong when Hampshire County Council decided to spruce up Rumbridge Street.

It’s a subject that is close to my heart because I live very close by and know a lot of the shopkeepers and residents. I was elected to represent the area as the local Hampshire County Councillor in 2004, a while after a public consultation had taken place and the decision was made to proceed with the project.

You don’t have to have lived or worked in Rumbridge Street to know that a great deal went wrong with the project. The first phase started off in 2005 using contractors, Balfour Beatty. Later work was undertaken by another contractor, Mildren Construction.

The work took a very great longer time than was originally planned. It went grossly over-budget and the quality of the materials used was downgraded and some elements of the plan, (including a one-way system which routed traffic through Winsor Road) were dropped altogether.

I was not alone in my amazement that a lot of the initial work involved smartening up the road surface with expensive materials such as cobbled stone. No work was undertaken to sort out the 100 year-old drainage system underneath which had failed long ago. Indeed, I remember telling this to a representative of Atkins who designed the scheme, at the public consultation session in 2004. My comment had obviously been ignored or forgotten and it was no surprise to me to see that Rumbridge Street suffered from quite severe flooding after the initial work to the road surface had been carried out.

It really pained me to witness, some weeks later, the expensive enhancements being dug up in order to sort out the drainage problems underneath. It was a massive waste of taxpayer’s money and resulted in long delays and frustration for local people, visitors and particular the people who were struggling to run businesses in the area.

To be fair, as with any engineering project, there were also a number of unexpected challenges, including uncharted services and old, redundant services that were only discovered when work was underway. It must have been quite difficult to co-ordinate all the various utility companies and their contractors.

However, I fear that the project management was not what it should have been, evidenced by other howlers including the wrong sort of soil delivered (all the way from Scotland), used in landscaped areas, only to find it wasn’t suitable and plants couldn’t grow in it and contractors placing their plant and equipment on newly planted areas, completely ruining it.

The scheme was completed over a year ago now. I have pressed for a local inquiry into what went wrong, not so as to blame people but so that lessons might be learned and similar mistakes be avoided in the future. The nearest I have got is an internal review, carried out by HCC Officers, which acknowledges some of the difficulties but concludes that the project was “Successful, on time and within budget”.

Some of you reading this may think that this conclusion is a bit of a whitewash, that those responsible have not been held to account, that there is every danger that lessons have not been learnt.

I have ensured that a copy of the review report has been sent to my colleagues at Totton & Eling Town Council for consideration. I’m pretty sure they will not be too impressed with it.

I was invited to do the honours at a special Open Day at Marchwood Power Station this weekend. Richard Holman, the General Manager, asked me to say a few words at the opening ceremony before the “Marchwood Power” flag was raised to much applause.

The £380 million facility is fully operational, with just 45 staff employed at the plant, I had the opportunity to meet employees, including the Finance Director and those working in IT. I then joined others on a tour of the plant. It is so big!

As it happened, the English Football team were due to kick off their World Cup campaign later that day. Richard explained that the guys operating the plant were expecting a surge in demand for electricity, especially at half-time (when people boil kettles and flush toilets). Beyond expected surges in demand, they are constantly monitoring the system and can usually respond within a ten second timeframe.

The project to build this gas fired power station is viewed as a major success, with very few “hiccups” along the way. Through good communication channels with the public (including the liaison panel that I chaired), it was possible to construct and go operational without any great anxiety from the local community. Hopefully, they will enjoy the benefits of this important energy supply for years to come.

This week, my local MP, Dr Julian Lewis, asked the following question to the Leader of the House of Commons:

“May we have a reaffirmation by health Ministers of the statement made in opposition that fluoridation would not be imposed on Southampton and Totton without the approval of the majority of the people concerned, given that South Central strategic health authority has put aside £400,000 to fight a court case, despite opposition to fluoridation from 72% of the community?”

George Young (Leader of the House of Commons, House of Commons; North West Hampshire, Conservative) replied

“The coalition Government have no plans at this stage to change the legislation under which the health authority is proceeding with its plans to add fluoride to the water in Southampton and the surrounding district. My constituency verges on that district, and I am aware of the strong local feelings and the unhappiness among some people about the consultation exercise that was undertaken before the decision was made to go ahead. However, I would mislead my hon. Friend if I said that we were planning to do anything in the short term to change the legislative framework in which the decisions are made.”

I believe most local people will feel very let down by this announcement. During the general election campaign, much political capital was made by condemning the Labour party for allowing the Strategic Health Authority to impose this on our community. Now, when in power, with the opportunity to stop it happening, it’s a different story. Small wonder politicians are held in deep mistrust. People will be justified in thinking they have been cheated.