BASINGSTOKE is a great place. Our part of north Hampshire is home to 69,000 jobs, making us one of the largest centres of employment in the South East.

This prosperity is important to the future of the economy of the whole country.

Our success is built on the talents of our workforce, the town's location, the quality of life enjoyed by residents and the fact that we are surrounded by beautiful countryside.

We have to work hard at remaining an attractive place and to tackle the image problem that Basingstoke sometimes has in the eyes of those who have not been fortunate enough to live or work in our community.

It is not difficult to find positive images of our part of north Hampshire - our town is full of green open space. Indeed, we are one of the greenest boroughs in the South East, with more than 90 per cent of our area being designated as open rural land. Basingstoke is ahead of its time - it's always been a greener borough!

  • I WAS pleased to hear that the borough council has now adopted a policy for responsibly managing the many hundreds of trees located throughout the town and surrounding residential areas.

Trees are a great asset but require considerable maintenance if they are not to cause significant problems for householders.

  • I WAS reminded of some of the history of Basingstoke when I was asked to attend the planting of a new community orchard in Kempshott last week.

This new orchard is in Kendal Gardens, just off Pack Lane. In the early part of the last century, the area was the site of a series of small-holdings attached to the original houses located in Pack Lane.

Many of these small-holdings had small orchards to provide fruit to the families in the area. The new community orchard has been carefully planted to reflect this history, with a number of "old fashioned" varieties of plum, apple and pear trees.

I was asked to plant a Medlar tree. This is a small apple-shaped fruit that can be eaten raw when overripe, but is more often used to make jams or preserves.

It is a fruit which is seldom seen in Basingstoke gardens nowadays - unsurprising, perhaps, as it tastes something akin to rotten pears!