What is best for Hayling?
- Fri 29th Feb 2008
I feel that I should respond to the recent extraordinary and irrational outburst by the Mayor of Havant, Hayling Councillor Victor Pierce Jones, reported in the Portsmouth News and on local radio. He said that plans for a town council on Hayling could turn the Island onto ‘the Zimbabwe of the south coast’!
I should like to remind him that it is Government, Conservative Party and Hampshire County Council policy to encourage the formation of parish and town councils, where they don’t already exist. His hostile opposition to a local council for Hayling is therefore not only contrary to Government and County policy, but also to that of his own party!
With regard to his ‘Zimbabwe of the south coast’ allusions, I can inform him that there are 13 parish or town councils on the Hampshire coast, including New Forest, Lymington, Beaulieu, Fawley, Totton and Hamble. Hampshire has 254 town or parish councils, eight having been created over the past ten years, with over 80% of the county having such local representation. Further along the south coast, Sussex has 21 town or parish councils on the coast, including East and West Wittering, Selsey, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Lancing and Newhaven, with a total of 240 communities having town or parish councils, covering more than 85% of West and East Sussex. In the case of Dorset, there are 27 town or parish councils on the coast, including Swanage, Isle of Portland and Bridport, with 196 parish or town councils in the county, with once again over 80% being parished. If Councillor Jones can come up with any evidence of pariah status, tyrannical rule, rampant inflation, corruption and the dissolution of the rule of law in any of the communities above, then I should like to see it. It is Havant Borough and consequently Hayling Island that is out of step with representation through the means of a local council, in the context of the south coast.
At the most recent meeting of the Hayling Island Residents’ Association committee, there was a unanimous vote in favour of campaigning for Town Council status for Hayling Island, via a petition. In order to meet the relevant criteria, set by the Secretary of State, it is necessary to have the approval of 10% of the electorate, which would mean about 1400 signatures. However, our objective is to secure a wider mandate, with a target of 2,500 signatures. This will mean a lot of hard work and planning, which cannot be done overnight, but is certainly achievable over the next few months.
Having announced our decision, we feel that it is important that the people of Hayling Island should be engaged in the debate, which perhaps is best conducted through these pages. We expect vociferous opposition, mainly from people with entrenched positions, who have a fear of the unknown and of changes to the status quo. We would of course hope that all local Councillors, both Borough and County would also want to serve on a (non party-political) Hayling Town Council. At the recent public meeting, Colin Mercer, Chairman of Botley Parish Council, stated that it took some while before the relationship with Eastleigh Borough Council moved from hostility and distrust to an amicable and effective one. He said that the overall burden of Council Tax was lower in some of the parished areas than in unparished parts of the Borough, despite the added precept to fund the administration of the local council, mainly as a result of the more efficient and lower cost of services delivered by the local council, rather than the Borough. The Borough charges more in unparished areas to cover its own extra costs. Generally speaking, in areas that are parished, higher costs, where they do occur, generate greater community satisfaction to a considerable extent.
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