Whitchurch Councillor Gill Nethercott stands down (North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats)

North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats <info@nwhantslibdems.org.uk>

Whitchurch Councillor Gill Nethercott stands down

March 15, 2006 12:00 AM

Gill Nethercott campaigning to keep the Whitchurch Post Office counter with veteran Liberal Democrat Tom Brooks, April 200

Liberal Democrat Councillor Gill Nethercott is resigning from Basingstoke & Deane Council so that her place can be filled by a new Councillor for Whitchurch in the Borough election on May 4. Gill suffers from Motor Neurone Disease and is not physically able to continue her duties as a Councillor. Her last appearance in the Council Chamber was for the recent budget meeting.

Gill Nethercott was elected to the Borough Council in 1994 and has always taken a positive interest in planning and development control issues. For several years Gill was Chair of the Borough Development Control Committee, a position that prevented her from making public comments on local Planning Applications. Earlier, within the Council, Gill played a full part in planning the Festival Place development of Basingstoke Town Centre.

As a member of Whitchurch Town Council since 1990, Gill started the process that has led to the building of a new Community Hall for Whitchurch. The 'community profile' identified what sort of facilities existed and what local people needed. It fed into developments at Testbourne School as well as the Borough Council's building programme. Work on construction of the Hall near the Silk Mill car park will begin this month.

Also as a Town Councillor, Gill was closely involved in the acquisition of land for a cemetery extension and the Queen's Golden Jubilee memorial. She chaired the committee that acquired land in Winchester Road, securing the future of the allotments and enabling creation of the Millennium Meadow. Gill Nethercott was the first lady to be Mayor of Whitchurch.

Whitchurch Liberal Democrat Chairman Keith Watts said "Gill Nethercott will be greatly missed by concerned local people and by members of the Councils on which she served. She is a great campaigner who led the successful effort to keep a Post Office counter in Whitchurch*. Gill has a talent for motivating groups of volunteers to work with the authorities in serving the community."

Before she was a Councillor, Gill started Neighbourhood Watch in Whitchurch after discovering vandals in the Amateur Dramatics hut. As a Councillor, her projects included getting the Town Design Statement work under way and the 'Town Health Check' that has led to the formation of the Whitchurch Association.