Full Council part 3 of 3

The Council meeting closes with questions to the cabinet members. As the main opposition, the Lib Dems lead the questioning.


The first was about housing. Originally the Council was going to decide the number and location of the homes needed to support the Conservatives vision for growth in September last year. As the party is completely split on the issue, they have created delay after delay. They admitted they have missed their early deadline (they couldn't really deny it!) and say they will have made their mind up by November 2012. In the mean time, as mentioned before on this blog, developers will win planning applications on appeal as the administration can't make a decision.


Not for the first time, the Portfolio holder responsible tried to say it was the oppositions fault for not agreeing. If this is the best excuse he can offer, we really are in trouble. Firstly the Conservatives have a majority - and they're not afraid to use it! Most importantly they can't disguise the fact the Conservatives are split from 250 new homes a year to 600 new homes a year. A mess they made for themselves which I will blog about later.

The second question exposed another Conservative inconsistency. Last year the administration were praising themselves for the Basing View investment that would create 15000 jobs. Last month the leader has been rightly celebrating the 3000 new jobs at Gresley Road, part of the Basing View re-generation. However when calculating the housing need for the future in June this year, they seemed sure only 2800 jobs would be created in Basing View. I asked how these 3000 new jobs were part of the 2800 jobs?


Between the waffle, I think we had a confession that the 2800 assumption was dodgy evidence to use when planning future housing.

Finally a question about Conservative Hampshire County Councils investment in solar panels, something we have been pushing for in the borough Council for many years only to be dismissed. We're told it is right for the Conservatives in the County based in Winchester, but wrong for us in Basingstoke. Does Winchester get more sun than Basingstoke, 17 miles up the road? Are the Tories saying that Winchesters has a better sun than Basingstoke?




Who knows?