Councillor Gavin James

Full Council 4 - going through the motions

2011-12-29T21:17:00.000Z

Should money from the sale of Council houses be spent on affordable homes? The first memory of politics came as child in the early 80's when my parents were invited to buy their Council House. It was a Conservative government and the then Labour party were opposed to such things. A Labour canvasser knocked on the door and told my parents that they were doing a terrible thing as they would be

Full Council 3 - Council Tax Discount

2011-12-28T13:33:00.004Z

An annual event is discussing the level of Council tax that should be paid by the owners of empty properties. I have blogged on this before (probably every year since the blog started) The Tories always say - The council tax is a charge for services. If no one is living in the property they are unlikely to use the same level of services, so are entitled to a discount, currently 25% (though

Full Council 2 - Councillor Allowances

2011-12-23T12:39:00.002Z

I was disappointed that councillors were unable to build a consensus on this issue. There is a risk that in a desperate attempt to appeal to voters that you enter a bidding race and after a long debate find yourself paying to sit in the chamber! In way of history, there was a consensus that councillors were the wrong people to set their own pay. Consultants were asked to review both the basic

Full Council part 1- The bombshell

2011-12-23T12:38:00.002Z

A delayed round up of last weeks full Council starts here, (due to the festive holidays it may take a while) The Leader Andrew Finney (Conservative) resigned. Due to the Basingstoke Town football club consultation I missed his speech, but understand that his decision had been heavily influenced by the way debate in the chamber had become increasingly political and all too often polite

Was the media's EU failure even greater than Cameron's?

2011-12-17T10:44:00.002Z

There's been much coverage on the EU treaty, Cameron’s veto and Clegg’s disappointment, but for all the coverage, little detail, little proper journalism and it has left the public in the dark. Polling shows that people are generally pleased that the British PM ‘stood up for British interests’. Ask the same polled public ‘But what does it mean?’, ‘What were these interests?’, ‘What was so

A victory for the Lib Dems and common sense

2011-12-09T23:06:00.001Z

I have blogged previously on the 46% price hike for households buying both a residents and visitors permit HERE. Cllr Parker challenged this when it was discussed at committee stage, we have since written to the cabinet and this week spoke at cabinet. Thanks to Lib Dem pressure, the portfolio holder announced that plans to increase the residents permit for this year were scrapped and that the

Clarkson versus Croydon Woman

2011-12-08T08:45:00.000Z