Letter: 'It is time to step up to the plate and get things done'

While I have no issues with policy revision, the impact on the local plan requires careful consideration. We ought to get it over the line, it was delayed by over a year by those who have become very eager to progress it now they’re in power.

Opposing the government might win easy votes, but we do however have people waiting five years for housing, even for families with eviction notices served on them.

Clearly, this is unacceptable, but the housing shortage appears to be a secondary consideration for the Tories, Independents and Lib Dems.

Frankly, neither Basingstoke nor Hampshire have an outstanding track record in infrastructure delivery. All the key upgrades recently, e.g., Brighton Hill and Black Dam roundabouts, have relied on external funding. 

Where we once built Festival Place and delivered four regeneration schemes in Popley and Oakridge, today all Basingstoke and Deane can do is dither for over 25 years on Manydown and regenerating the Winklebury Centre.

Both councils need to step up and engage with the new government on the existing infrastructure deficit.

For Chineham and the surrounding areas, this would mean building Chineham station, and upgrading the A33 to a dual carriageway to the Berks border.

These should have happened already, indeed the station was a pre-condition for building Sherfield Park. 

In the original new town plan of the 60’s there was also a Chineham bypass from the Black Dam roundabout connecting to the A33 at Sheffield.

For the southwest by J7 of the M3, the A30 could be upgraded between Sainsbury’s Hatch Warren and Brighton Hill roundabout, but there’s little scope to upgrade the roads further into town.

We could upgrade the ring road to what it was planned for in the '60s, but we need higher capacity public transport and park and ride to take cars off the road.

The limited capacity of our arterial roads, especially to the south and west, poses particular problems.

The current Local Plan has over 12,000 homes in three major development areas (including Manydown) to the south and west. We have Worting Road, Pack Lane and the A30 to cope with that little lot. 

We could build a new station at Worting, or reopen Oakley station. These are unlikely to happen with congestion problems at Clapham Junction, but there’s no reason why we can’t put these to government.

Then there are schools. We need a new secondary school in Manydown to replace Fort Hill, which Hampshire County Council shut while pursuing the insane policy seeing over 1,000 secondary pupils bused out of Basingstoke on commutes elsewhere in the county.

We could address the five-year waiting list by building council houses for local residents. The Independent/Lib Dem administration at Basingstoke and Deane promised this, but gave up after six months, filing it in the “too difficult” drawer.

The current administration lacks vision, just like the Tory administration before it. They try, but not too hard.

They trumpet very meagre accomplishments as big ones, but it is time to step up to the plate and get things done.

We need to push for and get, the necessary infrastructure upgrades across Basingstoke. And if the government says it can't afford it, then that's on them.

Cllr Andrew McCormick

Labour and Co-Op,

Brighton Hill ward

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